Through Glass
by phollie
Summary: L never had any intention of seeing her again. But the sharp-eyed rival from his youth has found him with nothing left in her life but the desperation to be taken seriously. Will their dangerous desires be their downfall before Kira can strike them down?
1. Idiot

**So this is my first Death Note fanfic, and I have a lot of groovular ideas for where it will go in the future…besides, who doesn't love L fan fiction?**

**If I owned Death Note, goodness, what a nightmare that would be. Therefore, I don't. Frown.**

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Perhaps she needed one more cup of coffee to hold her over.

The previous night had been a hell of a long one, yet Amelia Lasswell could not find it in her to sleep for even one hour. The reason was unknown to her; normally she could sleep a day away without remorse, but that trait had left her when she needed it the most. In fact, she had been switching between sitting on her couch in her underwear and tattered T-shirt, or getting up to either pee or refill her mug for countless hours until well into the afternoon. Besides this, she had spent the uneventful time alone flipping through encyclopedias for no reason whilst listening to the background noise of the television. She was just…so tired…

The curtains were dismally closed over the apartment windows to aid with her throbbing headache, which she had acquired from both lack of slumber and excessive stress. Amelia knew she her dreaded rent would be due soon, and that she did not have the money necessary to pay. It would be another month to stall the landlord of her apartment in order to find some means of cash. Nevertheless, the migraine had been lingering with her for quite some time now, and she was sure that the coffee would help in time.

Yes, just one more cup would do the trick…perchance, she could even find it in herself to take some sleeping pills and crash for the remainder of the day.

Before she could get to the kitchen to refill her cup, something caught her attention on the television. _"We are interrupting the program to bring you a live, globally televised broadcast from Interpol…"_

Amelia slowly turned around to look at the television, wiping a few stray auburn hairs from her forehead. She grabbed the remote control and turned up the volume loud enough so that she could hear it from the kitchen. She took her coffee mug in her hand and made her way to get her refill, continuing to listen to the broadcast distractedly.

"_I am Lind L. Tailor, more commonly known as L…"_

Amelia jerked her head up, feeling her heart twitch in shock. She immediately looked at the television screen and stared at the man claiming to be L, but sulked a moment later. _Liar, _she thought in disappointment. She would be the only one to know if it were truly L, and the striking, intense man claiming to be him on the news was nothing more than a con.

She would know.

She poured her coffee into her mug and walked back into her dingy living room, sitting down on her futon tiredly. Taking a long sip of the warm liquid, she watched the broadcast with lethargic eyes. Whoever this man was, he was the farthest thing imaginable from L…either that, or he had greatly changed since the last time she saw him…

She thought upon just how long it had been since she left Wammy's House. _Seventeen, a week before I turned eighteen, _she thought. _That was almost five years ago. He left before me…but how long?_

Still staring at Lind L. Tailor but blocking out the noise to concentrate, she took herself back to her memories of the orphanage. The only reason she had stayed there so long was for the security of being under a roof with others. L had not been the same. He had been three years her senior and eager to be on his own, thus leaving her without anyone to debate with for some time…

It came to her. _I was thirteen when he left. L…I haven't seen you in almost ten years. Surely you haven't changed this much…_

She shook her head instinctively, taking another halfhearted sip from her coffee. This was most likely just a prank, a stupid ruse, in order to rile up some angst-ridden viewers…or else she was hearing things.

He was talking about Kira, she knew that even in the midst of all of her pondering. She had been fascinated with the Kira case ever since it had stirred up the public, letting her free to observe everyone's reaction to the killer. Watching others, taking notes, was her own form of entertainment, and this situation that had been going on for awhile was simply perfect for her interest in human behavior. A little too perfect, in fact.

"_What you are doing is EVIL!"_

Amelia chuckled and shook her head. "Careful, Lindy, you might hurt little Kira's feelings," she muttered. She stood up to get her robe, suddenly aware of how cold she had gotten wearing only panties and a flimsy shirt, and left her mug on the small table in front of the futon.

A guttural, gagging sound emitted from the TV and she stopped in her tracks, her back to the screen. She was almost afraid to turn around to see what the occurrence was, but something in her head told her that it was the work of no one else but Kira. She looked over at the screen timidly and her stomach dropped. Lind L. Tailor was slumped over the news desk in a lifeless heap, his black hair shielding his face. Amelia ran over to the TV and kneeled down directly in front of it, gazing at the screen with wide eyes. _So this is how Kira is…the bastard, _she thought bitterly.

Overwhelmed with a sudden dizzying sensation, she shakily regained her footing and went to the bathroom. She turned on the sink, leaned over, and splashed cold water on her face to snap out of it, but the image of the dead man on the news had left her trembling. She dried her hands off on her shirt, along with her wet face, and took a couple of deep breaths before going back to the living room.

The news crew had collected the body of Lind L. Tailor, much to Amelia's relief, but a machine-enhanced voice was coming from the TV. She turned the volume up higher and paid close attention, her heart poundig against her ribs.

"…_a condemned criminal scheduled to die today, at this hour."_

Amelia tried to stop her hands from shaking as she listened with sharp ears to whoever was speaking. _I knew he wasn't L…but who is this?"_

She grabbed the bottom of her T-shirt and clutched the material in anxiety. Her stress level, as well as her stabbing headache, had increased to an unbearable limit. What was going on?

"_But I, L, do in fact exist."_

Amelia felt her world close in on her and settle in her throat. Her stomach made a violent lurching motion but she was far too weak to stand up and run to the bathroom. Swallowing hard, she felt her eyes widen so far that they watered and stung, and her mouth gaped open in shock.

She listened in horror as L taunted Kira via broadcast, pleading with him to make a deadly move on his life. With every passing word, Amelia felt her heart pound faster, her palms sweat harder, her head grow heavier. Ten years had gone by without seeing L, her childhood adversary, her component…he had been the only one at Wammy's House that she ever considered a worthy competition for her. If Kira killed him now, she would kill Kira herself…

"L," she whispered, her palms pressed against the TV, "You fucking idiot."

* * *

**Soooo? What do you think so far? A lot of things are about to go down, such as Amelia and L meeting again (yay!) so I'll update really soon. All these ideas are making my head hurt!**

**Reviews would make me squeel with glee!**


	2. Numbers

**Revised yet again. This is by far the most comfortable I've been with this chapter.**

**Don't own Death Note.**

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The thought of sleep was almost laughable at this point.

_Shit, _she thought as she wiped the nervous perspiration from her forehead with her shirt. _Going all out in an effort like _that_, and all for one single piece of information…! _

She shook off the bitter chill that was crawling up her spine and sat on her bed, massaging her pulsating temples in desperation. Laying down on her back, she stared up at the ceiling and ground her teeth. _But who am I to say anything in opposition? He's doing more right now than I've done in my whole life…_

Amelia pulled the thin flannel covers over her head, clutching the side of the bed for support. Sleep. If she had just gone to _sleep_, her thoughts would have spun their usual droning weave instead of this frantic Ferris wheel that would not slow down, would not tire for even a second in spite of how very exhausted her entire body was.

And yet, something in her was screaming out to do _something_.

Her memories of the pale, sickly boy from her childhood were few and minute, attacking her only in the middle of a restless dream or boring tasks, like making coffee or taking out the trash. When he had left for greater opportunities outside of the orphanage, she had only been thirteen and he sixteen, and their lack of any form of solid relationship had left no room for sentiment. She did remember, however, their intense rivalry, their need to defeat and desire to win against the other, and that _had_ been all there was to their relationship, or whatever they had called it…

Still, she could not help but worry.

She suddenly threw back the covers and sat on the edge of the bed, staring straight ahead with narrowed eyes. She had already deduced that Kira needed a name and face to kill…it was obvious, due to the fact that Lind L. Tailor had exposed both his appearance and name on the news. L, whom Amelia knew for a fact had never exposed himself as the title to the outside world, had taken one hell of a chance, seeing as no one except Kira himself knew just how he brought about death to his victims. But just how much of Lind L. Tailor's death had been a coincedence…?

Reaching up to run her fingers through her dark auburn waves, she cringed at the feeling of the oil that resided in her strands. She had to be wary of showering too often in her apartment in order to save money, but she had reached her limit of filth and realized that she wanted nothing more than to stand under the water and forget about the Interpol broadcast.

She trudged sleepily into her bathroom and pulled her shirt off over her head, causing her hair to fall in front of her face like a dirty web. She fully undressed and caught sight of herself in the mirror. Cocking her head, she remembered what she looked like the last time she saw L, and grimaced upon realizing that in a sense, it was almost exactly the same.

Flat. Thin. Washed out and pale with a head of woolen, tangled hair and nervous blue eyes. Her nose was still straight and narrow, her mouth still small and constantly pursed in agitation, and her hands, still so very restive and reaching out to something that she could not name. _Exactly the same._

Turning away from the mirror in annoyance, she stepped into the shower and turned the water knob, but much to her dismay, no water came out. She stared in disbelief up at the shower head, coming to realization that her water had been shut off due to her bills. "Are you fucking _kidding_ me!" she hollered, stomping out of the shower and putting her grimy clothes back on.

There was nothing for her to do. Amelia collapsed onto her futon and held her frustrated tears back. Of course, she had expected that her water would eventually be dismissed. She had been lagging in her bills for many months by then…but she had not expected L to be speaking on live news, especially when it involved the deadly Kira.

She spotted her cell phone out the corner of her eye.

No.

But, then again, yes…

She hesitated before flipping the phone open and scanned through her phonebook (consisting mainly of her apartment landlord, the downtown cleaners and a handful of fast food places), biting her bottom lip in anxiety.

Her breath caught when she reached the last contact.

_W._

She stared at the initials and recalled her last day at the orphanage that had claimed her childhood, before she had clambered onto a train with a single bag in her hand. _"If you ever need my assistance, Amelia…but please, keep this secret. I do not do this often…"_

Amelia felt her heart rise in her throat. There would be no possible way that Watari would answer…it had been five years since he had given her the number. Still, her finger was hitting the dial button on her phone, she was placing it expectedly against her ear. She listened intently to the dial tone, biting her thumb nail apprehensively.

_Riiing._

This would not work. She could not get her hopes up.

_Riiing._

It would be better if she hung up…five years and she had never thought of contacting Watari before. There was no point.

_Riiing._

Her finger was reaching for the end button. She could not believe she actually thought that this would work…nothing worked for her.

_"Yes?"_

Amelia felt her throat constrict. Her grip on the phone went weak and she dropped it into her lap. Quickly collecting it in her hand again, she swallowed hard and tried to speak, but something held her back from doing so. She felt as if her head was spinning on her neck like a mad top, while her stomach had turned into a warm mass of nausea.

_"Yes? Hello?"_

Amelia opened her mouth and uttered a feeble response. "Watari?"

There was a silence on the other end, causing Amelia's heart to thump so heavily in her chest that she could hear it in her head.

_"Since I have only given this number to two people, I assume that this is Amelia Lasswell?"_

Something in Amelia's chest broke at the sound of her own name, the sound of being remembered. "Y-yes, this is…this is Amelia, b-but…." She ran her fingers through her hair again and closed her eyes, blocking out any sound besides Watari's voice.

_"It has been a very long time, Amelia. Are you well?"_

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Well?" A nervous laugh broke from her lips. "I, er…I'm not entirely sure."

_"Are you ill? You sound rather-"_

"Oh! Oh, no, I'm fine, really, but…" Amelia cleared her throat and tried to calm her breathing, which was hitching up in her chest and blocking her words. "I'm sorry, I'm just…"

_"It's quite alright, Ms. Amelia, but might I ask what's so urgent? You sound as if you're in a great hurry."_

_Yes. I am. Kira's on a killing spree and L is on the top of his list. To say that I'm in a hurry is the understatement of this day and age. _

"A hurry…yes, well…"

_"Yes?"_

"The broadcast with Interpol," Amelia blurt out. "Involving L and Kira. Kira killed a man named Lind L. Tailor under the assumption that it was L, thus fooling him into giving away his location, but L's method of going about this is…it's putting his entire life at risk…!"

Watari was silent for a few moments before speaking quietly, his voice soothing and paternal. "_Ms. Amelia, I can assure you that L has a very clear understanding of just how much of a risk the broadcast was. It was, after all, his idea of going about it."_

Amelia felt her hands turn clammy. "Y-you…you're still in contact with L?"

_"I trust that you will not exploit this information, seeing as you came from the same background, but I must press that you do not speak of this outside of this conversation. Do you understand, Ms. Amelia?" _

"Of course," Amelia said hastily, nodding to herself. "I would never, but…I-I need to be sure of one thing first."

_"What is it?"_

And just like that, her words soared into the air and were strung together in a chain that flew off her tongue without doubt.

"I need to see L. I need to _help._ I know I can help with the Kira case, and I can only do that if I meet with him again. I want to work with L, just like we used to years ago, but I can't do that unless I know how to find him." She sighed and tried to relax her twitching leg muscles, but her anxiety was sending her body into a spasm. "Please, I know how much of a stretch this is on both of our parts, but…but I know that this is all that I can do."

_"Ms. Amelia, I don't think that-"_

"Please!" Amelia pleaded, voice cracking. "I know how ridiculous this sounds, more than anything in the world, but sounding ridiculous and solving cases is all that I know how to do!"

Much to her surprise, she heard Watari give a quiet laugh. _"You don't sound at all ridiculous, Ms. Amelia."_

At this, she let out a quivering sigh wiped her shaking hands on her lap. "Thank you."

_"But be very aware of this before we take any further steps. This is a very long and difficult case with the possibility of death. Until Kira is caught, your life would be at a constant threat."_

"I know," Amelia whispered weakly. "I know that, believe me. And I…I know that L knows that, too..."

There was a grave silence as Amelia's breath hitched higher and higher, her bony fingers trembling, before Watari finally spoke. _"If we are planning on taking any action, please be ready by nine o'clock tonight."_

Amelia's head snapped up, a sharp blaze of pain bursting in her neck at the sharp movement. "W-what…?"

_"Please have a bag of neccessities with you to bring for the night. It would be too risky for you to return home until at least tomorrow."_

Amelia's eyes flit around her small apartment rapidly, taking frantic note of anything that she could toss into a bag in time. "Are you…are you being serious?" she breathed out. "You're letting me…?"

"_I will leave it to L whether or not you may stay on the case, but yes, Ms. Amelia, I am being entirely serious."_

Words failed her yet again as she clenched and unclenched her fists nervously, trying to moisten the dry cave of her mouth but finding nothing behind her lips bit bitter air. "O-of course…I suppose I should give you my address-"

_"I already have it taken care of," _Watari said with a light air of amusement. "_I must go now, so please be ready by nine o'clock and meet me outside your apartment complex on the dot."_

"O-on the dot," Amelia repeated, her voice weak and stunned out its strength. "Yes."

_"I will see you then. Goodbye, Ms. Amelia."_

"Watari!" Amelia said, gripping the phone tighter in her hand. Hitching higher and higher, surely to burst within her ribcage…

_"Yes?"_

"I, um…" She cleared her throat and felt her face soften. "Thank you. Truly. I can't even…begin to describe it, but…thank you."

Her eyes found the clock as Watari accepted her gratitude with another light chuckle. Five-thirty. _Hell. _

Goodbyes were given, phones were closed, a singular pulse raced and flurried within Amelia's pale wrists. And with a heavy head and dizzy thoughts drowning her ears, she simply collapsed back onto the bed and eluded sleep until six o'clock chimed.

* * *

**Man, my writing style sure has changed since the first draft of this…**


	3. Cabs and Teacups

The hours that followed the phone call were, in short, agonizing. Amelia tried her hand at sleep, since she knew that it would be virtually impossible when she saw L and Watari, but her eyes remained wired. She deeply regretted the coffee spree that she had embarked on earlier, while at the same time she regretted pulling her all nighter in general.

Then again, she would not have seen the broadcast. A double negative, seeing as that was another one of her regrets.

She was fraught with finding a solution to her unwashed hair, and since a shower was not a possible solution any longer, she opted for pulling it back out of her face in a thick, distraught bun. No matter how hard she tried at smoothing the sides, there were still stray pieces falling down her jawline and forehead. She eventually gave up all together and journeyed to her limited wardrobe to find something decent to wear for the night.

"Decent" was being too picky. Her closet consisted of everything baggy and unflattering that the world had to offer, and she eventually selected a pair of tattered jeans and a loosely knitted gray sweater. Even though she looked less than impressive, she had no choice but to accept it. _If I could just get a damn shower, _she thought as she threw a T-shirt and sweatpants into a duffel bag. She went into her bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste to add to the collection, ignoring the mirror in order to avoid distraction, and made her way into the kitchen. The bowl on top of the counter held her lifeline, that being lollipops, and she threw thirteen of the candies on top of her other provisions, being sure to get a decent variety before taking one from the bowl, removing the wrapper, and popping it into her mouth.

It was eight-forty. She was reeling.

She checked her cell phone and found no new calls from Watari, so she could only hope that things were going according to plan.

Pace, pace, pace. Breathe. Shudder.

Eight-fifty.

_Maybe I should go down to the lobby…I doubt he would get me from my room, _she thought. Nodding, she picked up her bag and hurried out of her door, locking it on her way out. Down many flights of stairs she flew and finally reached the lobby of the apartment complex. Her phone suddenly vibrated and she grabbed it from her pocket, flipping it open swiftly.

_I will be outside in a yellow cab. Please be quick, _Watari's message said.

_Yellow cab, _Amelia thought with a nod. _Smart thinking, Watari, makes it less suspicious._ She made her way out of the lobby door and immediately saw the cab, the engine still running. With a deep breath, she walked over to the back door and got inside, quickly closing the door once she was settled. Her eyes settled on Watari, who was driving, and grinned at the sight of him after five years.

"Ms. Amelia," Watari greeted, glancing at her in the rear view mirror with a knowing smile on his aged face. "L is waiting for you."

* * *

The ride to L's residence held the most anxiety that Amelia had ever experienced in all of her twenty-two years. Watari's presence comforted her to an extent, but by the time the car stopped, Amelia's hands were sweating profusely and the pressure in her temples was unbearable.

Watari led her to the elevator and pressed the key for the eighth floor. Amelia leaned against the wall and strummed her fingers along her duffel bag to ease her nerves in vain. Watari turned his head to look at her, an amused expression in his eyes, and he said, "You're trembling?"

Amelia cracked an awkward smile. "I'm a little uneasy."

Watari smiled back at her. "Time that has passed is nothing to be wary of, Amelia."

She took those words in and thought upon them. He had a point, but she still found that her hands were shaking. When they reached the eighth floor, Amelia followed Watari until he stopped in front of a large black door. He entered a pin code into a security device and watched as the door slid open, beginning to walk in. Amelia hesitated and stood in the doorway, her legs tensing up immediately. Watari turned around and said, "Amelia?"

She wiped her palms off on her rugged jeans and nodded as she entered the large room. Watari locked the door with a new code and led her down a dimly lit hallway. He stopped and turned around before saying, "I will tell him to come out here to see you, if you like."

Amelia swallowed down her nerves and responded with a shaky, "Yes." Watari nodded in approval and entered the room, leaving Amelia alone in the hallway. She backed a few feet away from the door and gripped the strap of her duffel bag, feeling her mouth go dry again. She turned her back to the door and stared at her torn up high-tops, marked with dirt and grime that would probaby never come out.

Any moment now.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she became aware of someone looking at her. She slowly turned around and her eyes met a white shirt. She moved her eyes upward and saw the face of L staring back at her.

He had not changed at all, but yet he looked like a stranger at the same time. His hair was shaggier and fell in front of one dark eye like a shield, yet his skin was still the same milky white. His eyes held the same intense gaze that would always make Amelia feel out of place, but the tired bags underneath those very eyes made her cringe at the thought of lacking sleep. The expression on his face was unreadable, but it held an aloofness that had never quite left him. She gazed up at him in both wonder and sheepishness, and noticed how much taller he had gotten and yet managed to stay the exact same weight.

"Hello," he said quietly, shifting his weight and pushing his fingers deeper into the pockets of his jeans.

The deepness of his voice threw Amelia off slightly, but she tried not to show her surprise and said, "Hey."

The two stood in an heavy silence and Amelia felt his eyes on her. She looked back up at him and raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Hmm?" she said, unsure of any other way to ask him why he was staring.

L tilted his head, leaning in slightly to her face and thus causing Amelia to take a wary step back. "You're not what I expected," he said tonelessly. "You look remarkably parallel to when you were a child."

Amelia felt her eyes dull as her posture slackened. "And here's to thinking that ten years changes people."

"Please don't mistake that for an insult," L added. "After all, I could never quite imagine you as an adult."

"And that wasn't an insult?"

Tension. Just as Amelia had expected.

Just as Amelia would not turn her eyes from him, he would not look away from her, and with every passing second she felt more and more uneasy. Much to her relief, he broke the silence when he called, "Watari!"

The white-haired man came around the corner and said, "Yes?"

L kept his body facing Amelia but only turned his head to Watari. He looked at Amelia out of the corner of his eye as he said, "May you prepare some tea for Amelia?"

_Why is he staring at me like that?_ she thought as she shifted her duffel bag to her other shoulder and broke her gaze. _Oh, that's right, I look remarkably parallel to shit right now. _

Watari went off to the kitchen to prepare the tea, leaving Amelia and L to face the stiff gracelessness alone. Amelia sensed that his eyes had left her at last, and she used the opportunity to study his face more closely. He brought his thumb up to his mouth and began playing with his bottom lip absentmindedly. Something in the action made Amelia stare longer than she intended, half appalled, half beguiled, before he suddenly shifted his gaze up at her.

"It would probably be a proper thing to do if we sat down instead of lurking in this hallway, don't you agree?" L said, scratching the back of his head shyly. The action only made his hair messier, and he was either indifferent to it or did not notice, for he made no effort to fix it. She nodded in response to him and the two walked to a spacious, mostly empty living room complete with two plush sofas and a small coffee table. Numerous teacups and saucers adorned the table's surface and a half-empty bowl of strawberries sat in the middle. A separate plate adorned with the leafy tops of the fruits sat next to it.

Amelia took a seat on one of the sofas and had to suppress a moan of delight at how much more comfortable it was compared to her apartment's futon. She watched L slowly sit down and bring his knees into his chest, resting his palms on his knees. His eyes were back on her again, with the same unreadable expression within them. He decided to speak first, much to Amelia's relief.

"Watari did not tell me your reason for such an urgent visit," he said, reaching for a strawberry from the bowl on the table.

Amelia cleared her throat and placed her duffel bag by her feet. "Well, it would be redundent to say that you're now on the top of Kira's hit list."

L's expression did not falter even in the slightest as he placed the strawberry to his lips, holding it between his pointer finger and thumb, and took a delicate bite. "Which is quite reasonable, seeing as if I catch him he can no longer kill," he said simply.

Amelia took a deep breath. "I've already assumed that Kira needs a name and face to make a victim, judging by how Lind L. Tailor exposed both on live television while Kira was watching." He popped the remainder of the strawberry in his mouth and plucked out the green top.

"Anyway," she continued, "I must say that your method of finding out this information was nothing less than impressive."

L's lips twisted slightly into a smile of gratification and he nodded once in her direction, placing the leaf of the fruit onto its designated plate.

"Then again, I think you could have learned this in a way that would have been less dangerous, considering the fact that you were basically mocking him to kill you right at that moment," Amelia said in a flat tone, staring at him with narrowed eyes. "I am sure that there was another way to gain access to that information on Kira's powers besides encouraging him to act upon it, L."

L caught her stare and took another strawberry from the bowl. "Considering that I now know that Kira needs a name and face to kill someone, not to mention can kill without contact, I am quite sure that this argument is besides the point."

"But he is now aware that L is hot on his heels. Now that it seems as though you are one step ahead of him, who knows what his next move may be." Amelia made sure to keep eye contact with him, a trick that she had learned in their earlier years of debating. Although she never quite defeated him, she could at least prove herself to be a challenging opponent.

L cocked his head to the side and bit the end of the strawberry, his eyes copying Amelia's narrowed position. "That is the exact reason why I am so serious about this case, Amelia. I hope to be able to learn enough about Kira's antics before he takes action and increases his victim count, and in order to do that, it is necessary to take some risks. It is-"

"Tea," Watari said as he carried a small tray with two steaming cups of tea on porcelain saucers, along with a dish filled with sugar cubes. Amelia accepted her cup and thanked him warmly, gracious to have something to soothe her dry mouth with or without any sugar. Watari held the tray out to L, whom nodded in acknowledgement and cautiously took his cup, then went back to what he was saying as Watari exited the living room. "It is obvious that Kira's targets are not limited to criminals any longer, but also to anyone who poses as a threat to his success." He dropped a handful of sugar cubes into his tea and stirred the liquid with a spoon. "That now includes me."

Amelia set her cup down onto the coffee table in front of her and sighed. "But that's exactly my point, L. Because of that broadcast, you are now at the top of Kira's hit list."

"Yes, but once again, risks must be made in order to access certain information. Kira cannot kill anyone he pleases." L took a sip from his cup, grimaced, and dropped another cluster of sugar cubes into it. "He was unable to kill me, nevertheless. I consider that to be a helpful clue, don't you?"

Amelia stared at the floor, frustrated with him. The two were silent again, until she said, "You are still as stubborn as ever, are you aware of that?"

L gave her a thumbs up as he continued sipping his tea. Amelia thought that she saw a faint hint of a smirk twisting on his lips behind his cup, but before she could fully spot it, it was gone. She rested her palm on her forehead and was reminded of the state her hair was in. "Oh, and, one more question, L."

L raised his eyes to look at her quizzically.

"Can I please get a shower?"


	4. Faces

"She has grown up to be quite the young woman, has she not?"

L looked up from his laptop to see the form of Watari standing in the doorway. He chose to ignore the question and said, "We are still equally stubborn and argumentive as ever."

If L was to be perfectly honest, Amelia was essentially still the pale, narrow-eyed girl that used to stake out in the orphanage library until the early morning and take down anyone willing to try to steal her books. She was of course taller, and the bone structure in her face had matured, but what was most obvious in her shift in appearance was her eyes; instead of angry and cold like they had been during childhood, they were now nervous, all-seeing and, while still cold, possessed a sort of sad quietness that L did not care to delve into. She had always been an enigma, that much had stayed quite the same.

Her exact motives behind her desperation to see him puzzled him. Surely it was not an urge for a friendly visit, for they had been rivals in place of friends, and neither had ever placed much value in idle friendship to begin with. The mere fact that her visit was during the beginning stages of the Kira case made it more than obvious, however.

_She seems very interested in Kira, no less, _he thought, stroking his bottom lip with his thumb. _Either way, appearing after ten years out of nowhere is not like her._

He recalled the words she had said to him earlier. _Ten years changes people, L. You've changed as well._

She had only been half correct.

* * *

A shower had never been so satisfying in Amelia's life. She stood under the warm water with her eyes closed and head tilted back, clearing her head and loosening her muscles. The idea of her hair being clean again made her sigh with relief; the feeling of filth had become far too familiar as of late.

Although she longed to stay in the shower for hours longer, she figured that twenty minutes was already over the respectable time limit and she reluctantly turned the water off. She grabbed the plush white towel that Watari had provided her with and began drying off, but realized that there was a gigantic wall mirror across from where she stood. She already appeared a tenfold more presentable after ridding herself of the stress and oil that had resided on her before. Her hair was already beginning to curl at the ends and she gently touched them, as if they would suddenly shatter. Moving closer to the mirror, she studied her face curiously. She was unsure of why she was so preoccupied with it, but the strange expression in her eyes had lessened slightly.

She shook her head in confusion and finished drying off, then began putting on the spare clothes she had brought with her. Taking one last look at her reflection, she draped her long hair over one shoulder and attempted to smile.

She felt…strange.

_Surely I haven't changed that much…right?_

_

* * *

_

"It is past midnight," L said the moment he noticed Amelia yawning on the couch across from him. "You may go to bed any time you wish."

The girl shook her head in protestation and reached into her bag for something. "No, I'm fine. It was only a yawn." She pulled her hand out and revealed a lollipop in between her fingers, unwrapping it sleepily and placing the candy in her mouth.

"Anyway, what was I saying?" Amelia asked, cocking her eyebrow in his direction.

L stirred his second cup of tea and kept his eyes on hers. "Your reason for arriving in such a…robust fashion. After all, I was quite taken back when I learned of your wish to see me."

He saw her expression shift to one of a more serious manner, yet with the lollipop still in her mouth, it betrayed her staid stature and L had to suppress a soft chuckle. He kept his gaze with her and waited for her to respond, but after several seconds of silence, he broke the stare and picked up his cup. Just as he was about to bring it to his lips, she spoke after taking her lollipop out of her mouth.

"I want to help with the Kira case."

L smirked. _Of course you do, _he thought as he slowly put his cup back on the table, _You wouldn't be Amelia if you didn't want to help._

He hesitated before answering. "I don't think that would be in good taste, Amelia."

Her eyes widened, just as L expected they would. "What do you mean 'good taste'?" she said, voice low.

L placed his hands on his knees and kept his eyes wide and aloof. "The Japanese police have been working beside me without me having to see them in person just yet. I am already involved greatly in this case dealing with a serial killer without the full trust of the entire force, and besides that, it's already risky enough without having to think about another person joining the case."

He had angered her, he knew that simply by the look in her eyes. "And you don't expect it to grow more serious and dangerous as time goes by? You need as many people willing to fight against Kira as you can _get_ right now."

L sighed. "And I have plenty of it, and dozens of policemen risking their lives to help find Kira. This is not a simple case, Amelia, not like those that we researched when we were children." He was surprised that he brought up their earlier years, especially under the circumstances, and he awkwardly picked up his cup and sipped his tea quietly.

"What are you saying? That you don't want me to take on the case with you because I wouldn't be able to handle it just because we're not kids anymore?"

The fury in her voice took him by weak surprise. She had always been emotional, but he did not think that he could get her to the boiling point this fast…

He shook his head slowly. "No, Amelia, that's not it. I am simply stating that I do not want you to be put into more danger than necessary-"

"Coming from the man who willingly took on this case knowing that he is dealing with a murderer who merely needs a name and a face to strike," Amelia retorted, twirling her lollipop by the stick in between her fingers. "I wish to help you and the police, not walk directly up to a Kira suspect and introduce myself."

L stared at her in wonder. _You sure are obstinate, Amelia. No wonder we were such heavy rivals…at least I know that aspect of you has remained, _he thought.

"L, this is what I've always wanted; to work on a _real_ case, a _real_ criminal case," Amelia pressed. "I'm not asking for money or compensation, I'm asking for an opportunity more than anything else."

L looked at her with a mixture of distress and revelation, but let her continue.

Amelia sighed and opened her eyes, looking at him now. "And even if I'm _not_ paid in helping with the case, I'll finally be doing what I've always wanted to do ever since I was a child. Surely you haven't forgotten our earlier years when we would look up murder cases and see who could reach a conclusion first."

L smiled faintly at the memory. "I believe we are still even, Amelia."

Amelia cracked a sad smile and looked back down at the floor, holding her lollipop in front of her red candy-stained mouth. The two did not speak for awhile and L simply watched her, still in a state of confusion and quiet interest that she was sitting in his living room after ten years. His challenger that had frustrated and yet motivated him during their childhoods had appeared virtually out of nowhere speaking of the case that he had been hooked on for quite some time. Of all of the possible times that they could have reunited, it had to be when he had taken on his most perilous case of all.

He noticed that her eyelids were going slack, her wet hair falling in front of her face. He watched as she tiredly pushed the strands of hair off of her cheeks and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. L decided to place his cup onto the saucer, relishing in the fact that she greatly resembled a child now that she had been drained of energy. "Amelia," he said softly.

She looked at him with lethargic eyes. "I'm not tired."

"You're nodding off as we speak," he said. "It seems our discussion has drained your will to stay awake."

He knew that she was about to protest, but she eventually nodded and said, "Where am I sleeping?"

"In a bed, I would presume," he said without hesitation. "Mine, to be exact. I couldn't let a guest sleep on the couch, now could I?"

Amelia's mouth gaped open, but she closed it a second afterwards. She cleared her throat and said, "Are you sure? Where will you sleep?"

L shrugged and scratched the back of his head. "I can manage to go without sleep for quite some time, Amelia. Either way, you are the guest for the night, not me."

Her face held an expression that he was not accustomed to. He could not name it, but he tried to ignore it and waited for her to respond. Amelia awkwardly stood up and finished off her lollipop with a firm bite. "Alright," she said quietly. She chewed the candy slowly and put her bag over her shoulder, her sleepy eyes half shut.

L led her to his bedroom and let her put her bag on the floor. She stood in front of his large bed, simply adorned with plain white sheets and a single pillow, and met his eyes as he stood in the doorway. He pushed his fists into his pockets and averted his eyes from her. "Would you prefer me to have Watari apply clean sheets for you?" he offered.

"I'll be fine, really," she responded. She shook her head offhandedly and sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, looking down at the floor.

More than enough of a sign that he should leave, he presumed. "Well, then," L said with finality, beginning to turn away.

"It's really nice seeing you again," Amelia said suddenly.

L felt his cheeks inexplicably turn warm at her comment. It was not as though they had been best friends when they were young, but it was a fact that they had been close in a very bizarre manner…he knew that she had hated him whenever he would conclude a minor case just for fun, and he knew that she had made him lose his mind whenever she would beat him to it. Their relationship had been one of debates, research, and competition, but he found that her company both comforted him and troubled him. She wanted to help him with the Kira case, that much he was sure of, but could both his pride and sense of right and wrong allow for it?

_She's 22 years old_, he reminded himself. _But then again…_

Too much trivial thought, he decided as he backed up away from the door. "Yes, of course," he said quietly before leaving.

Such gauche words, even in the aftermath of a shared childhood.

* * *

The moment that L closed the door, Amelia's fatigue eroded into nothingness and she lay on her back wrapped in the white sheets like a strait jacket.

She had had more than enough time to analyze the young man's appearance, and upon much quiet observation and careful word choice, had decided that he appeared very much like an owl, constantly watching her, always alert and round-eyed. He was the same caliber of washed out white and spindly limbs that she was, and yet he towered over her, even at her generous height of five feet and six inches. Cryptic and black-eyed and too much to think about.

She sighed and buried her face in the pillow. Breathing in, she caught a whiff of his scent deeply rooted in the fibers of the pillowcase, causing her to freeze and roll over, feeling like an intruder on something she was not supposed to take notice in.

And yet her mind still spun.

He had said they were still even. _Which means our rivalry hasn't quite diminished, _she thought with a cringe. _Is that why he doesn't want me to help with the case?_

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply again, feeling her previous burst of energy quickly dissipate into a drowsy heaviness again. She could vaguely see a light flick on beneath the opening of the bottom of the door and heard footsteps passing outside the room, but before she could think anymore, she slept for the first time in two days.


	5. Proceed With Caution

Amelia awoke to the sight of L's slender frame standing beside the bed, his hands in his pockets again. She jumped in alarm and looked up at his face, which was expressionless and once more, staring at her as if she were a test subject. He appeared groggier than the recent night and Amelia figured that he had pulled an all nighter while she had basked in the glory of a soft bed.

"Holy…! What are you doing?" she said out of the shock of seeing him so unexpectedly, especially when she had just woken up. And those damn eyes of his would send her into a fit if he kept staring at her like that…

"I'm sorry," he said with a droll undertone, "but it's almost noon and the rest of Japan is awake."

He gave her an uncanny smile and Amelia smirked sarcastically back at him. His eyes had a languid look in them and he appeared desperate for sleep, but Amelia knew better than to bother him about the matter. Sleep had never been of much importance to him when she had known him.

Amelia scoffed, bleary and annoyed, and sat up in his bed so that her face was level with his chest. She looked up at him and cleared her throat, suddenly nervous in his presence again, especially when she was in her pajamas and most likely looking less than her lowest. "At least Japan sleeps, L. When was the last time you slept in this bed anyway?" she asked, recalling his scent on the pillow. Her cheeks suddenly felt warm at the rememberance of her reaction to the smell and she tried not to show it on her face.

"I do sleep in it on occasion, or else the sheets wouldn't have been askew when you came in," he said simply. Amelia turned her eyes to him again in surprise, her mind rushing to other thoughts, but she saw that L's face was still expressionless as he looked back at her. The fact that her mind had wondered to other reasons for the sheets being messy embarrassed her, for she could not tell whether or not L had noticed. He did not exactly strike her as a womanizer, but nevertheless…

"Anyway," L continued, "Watari will make you breakfast…or lunch, I suppose, if you would like."

Amelia shook her head. "I can make something, Watari doesn't have to."

She could tell that her comment took him by surprise and she smiled in amusement. L cocked his head and furrowed his brow at her before saying, "Are you sure? It would be no problem for him."

Amelia chuckled at his befuddled face. "Is it so bizarre that I don't want Watari to do any unnecessary work for me? I already owe him for bringing me here in the first place." She stood up and smoothed the back of her sleep-tangled hair. She only reached the height of his shoulder, and even still, his slouched posture brought his face alarmingly closer to hers. Meeting his eyes for another awkward moment, she backed away to save herself from looking foolish and tugged at the bottom of her T-shirt. "What?" she asked shakily, referring to how he had managed to give her his usual eerie stare once again.

L seemed to snap out of it at that moment and he shook his head, his hair falling over one eye. "I was looking at you," he said quietly, bringing his thumb to his lips. "I'm sorry."

Amelia found her bag on the floor and began rummaging through it for her toothbrush and toothpaste. "You were gawking," she muttered under her breath. He must not have heard her, for he merely said, "I'll let you get ready. We can talk more about the Kira case today if you wish."

Amelia jerked her head up at his words. _He wants to talk about the case with me…he trusts me!_ she thought as she took out her provisions from her bag. Before she could respond in gratitude, he left the room and gently closed the door on his way out.

* * *

L could see Amelia in the kitchen from his seat on the couch, and watching her cook was perhaps the most entertaining thing he had come across in years.

Perched on the edge of the sofa cushion and crossing his arms upon his knees, he simply watched her with a fascinated smile stretched across his lips. He had heard her cursing to herself when she burnt her pancakes to the point of no return and was forced to remake them from scratch, and he had to sustain his laughter. He did not want her to know that he was observing her from afar, especially being so amused by her impatience in cooking. The smell of burnt pancake wafted into the living room and he cringed, continuing to keep his eyes on her profile from a distance. Her distinct auburn hair fell upon her back in wooly waves and she constantly brushed it out of her face with the back of her hand, an exasperated expression clear on her features. Her temper was strangely enthralling, riveting, and L eventually gave in to his longing to keep his watchful eye a secret from her.

"Watari makes pancakes on occasion," he called to her from the couch.

Amelia turned her head to him as she stood in front of the stove with a batter-covered spatula and gave a sarcastic smile. "Well, thank you for that life-changing news, but I'm doing just fine in here." Meanwhile, smoke rose and billowed from the frying pan.

"I just thought you may have wanted to be aware of that. I've noticed that he does not loudly curse when he burns his, either." L smirked and stood up, taking a jelly bean from the canister on the coffee table. He popped it into his mouth and walked to the kitchen with his hands in his pockets. "Perhaps it would relieve your stress by a couple of years' worth, too."

Amelia did a double take at him with wide eyes. "You're not contributing to the success of these pancakes at all. Can you go crouch somewhere and let me cook in peace?"

L had to laugh at her frustration and leaned against the wall. Not many things made him feel the urge of laughter in his throat, but an angry Amelia sure inspired it for him. "Considering you were so tranquil before I spoke up," he said with a smirk. "I could assist you in flipping that one, since it appears as though you are approaching another debacle with that spatula."

Amelia narrowed her eyes, a challenging smile on her face, and she shook her head. "No, because you will use this as means of breaking our tie."

"Pardon?"

"You claimed that we are still even after the orphanage, correct? What gives me the doubt that you are simply trying to beat me at cooking, too?" She was grinning, her arms crossed over her chest while holding the spatula in her hand.

L copied her stance, mocking her. "Amelia, I promise that by helping you flip that pancake, we will remain at a tie. You may forever shun me if I go against my word." He held up his hand, palm flat, and gave her a stoic face. He was glad to see that his action made her laugh. "Fine," Amelia said, "you have a deal." She handed him the spatula and he heartily took it. Her eyes were sparkling like a child's.

"Now," L said in an overly serious tone, "concentrate on my movements." He applied the spatula under the sizzling pancake, looked at Amelia, and flipped it over in the pan successfully. "Alas. Triumph."

Amelia gave a low hoarse laugh. She raised her arms above her head and stretched, yawning. "It's too bad _I'll_ be the one eating them, isn't it? All of your hard work will end up in my stomach."

L leaned back against the wall and eyed her with content. "I suppose I can't say that for all of my cases, thankfully."

* * *

Later that evening, it was decided between L and Amelia that she would depart at midnight to best avoid anyone seeing her leave from the premises, and the hours that passed became useful for talking about what they deemed important.

"You said that you haven't had a job in over a year…why so?" L asked. He was perched on a swivel chair in the middle of the room, his knees pulled into his chest in his usual fashion, while watching Amelia's lips wrap around yet another lollipop of hers. She was lying on her stomach on his bed while propped up on her shoulders, her thick hair pulled back from her face in a low ponytail.

Her eyes turned morose and she took the lollipop out of her mouth. "I can't take on a job just to keep myself busy from what I really want to do," she said softly. "I don't want to lie to myself like that. And my budget has ultimately proven it, too."

He knew exactly what she was implying. They had shared the same aspirations for occupation for years, but he was confused as to why she had never pursued it until she became aware of the Kira case. He studied her eyes, which had once seemed so strong and confident, but now appeared fragile and afraid. "You need money, I gather. Watari would be glad to assist you."

Amelia gave him a smile out of the corner of her mouth, a forlorn look to it, and shrugged. "Oh, I manage." She put the lollipop back in her mouth and looked away from him again. "I couldn't ask you to do that for me."

"You didn't ask me, I offered," he stated softly, stroking his bottom lip with his slender index finger. The young woman on his bed slowly turned her eyes to him. A vulnerable face, he observed. A readable, open face.

"Thank you," she said.

L nodded in return and was silent, resting his hands on his knees. Moments passed and L glanced at the clock. "It is eleven fifty-five," he said.

Amelia cleared her throat and sat up. "Yes," she responded quietly. She picked up her bag off the floor and held it in her lap, seemingly waiting for him to speak.

"I had Watari prepare your ride back to your apartment," L said, breaking the silence.

They both stood up and faced each other, the awkwardness settling in the air again. L shoved his fists in the pockets of his jeans. "I would see you home, but the risk of me leaving the building is considerably high due to the case at hand," he said, choosing his words carefully. It was true, he felt guilty seeing her leave without taking her back to her home with Watari, but the risk of his face being seen by a potential Kira outside of his apartment lingered in his head. Not only could he not place himself in such danger, the thought of placing Amelia under the same threat made him cringe.

Amelia nodded quickly. "I understand," she anwered. She cleared her throat once more, seemingly a nervous habit of hers, and looked him in the eye. "Thank you again for allowing me to stay here."

L responded with a yawn and a nod.

In silence, the two met the door, in which Watari was standing in front of. L swallowed hard and caught Watari's eye. The man was smiling knowingly, much to L's confusion, and he looked back at Amelia. The auburn-haired girl was looking up at him with a strange expression on her face. Her fair skin was flushed in her cheeks and her eyes were wider than normal. "Well, then," she said, all business again, "this has been a…a most _interesting_ meeting."

L could feel Watari's eyes on him again as he hesitated. "Yes, of course," he muttered. "In light of the situation, though, we will have to remain cautious with you going to and from here often."

Amelia nodded quickly. "Certainly," she responded. She shifted her bag on her shoulder and pushed her hair out of her eyes, meeting his again. She held her hand out to him and L stared at it for a moment before taking it in his and giving a single shake. Her skin was soft and her nerves were evident by how warm her palm was. The handshake lasted a milisecond before Amelia pulled her hand away. L met Watari's gaze and said, "Watari, may you please wait in the cab for Miss Amelia to meet you out there?"

Watari's eyes widened in confusion slightly, but L raised his eyebrows subtly to hint to him that he needed to speak with Amelia in private before she departed. The older man nodded and wordlessly exited through the door.

Amelia's head had turned to watch the man leave, and L touched her arm to get her attention again. The girl seemed surprised at the touch and quickly jumped around to face him. She opened her mouth to speak, but L beat her to it. "Amelia," he said firmly.

"Yes?" she responded, her eyes wide.

"Promise me that you will not speak of this encounter to anyone outside of here. It would jeopordize both of our lives and expose where I live, which at no circumstance can happen." His voice was low and gentle, seeing that he had already startled her enough, but firm to the point where she was sure to listen to him. L acutely noticed that her lips were pouted open and he wondered if she was aware of how it made her look like the child that he remembered her as.

"Of course I wouldn't-"

"One more thing."

"Yes?"

L took a deep breath and looked closely at her. "If you wish to see me again, it would be better for you to stay at longer increments in order not to be seen leaving too often. We want to avoid any form of suspicion when it applies to this building. Understand?"

Amelia nodded wordlessly, her eyes everywhere but on L. She gripped the strap of her bag and backed away from him. "I'll see you soon, then."

"Yes," L said simply, unsure of any other words to tell her. He vaguely wondered when he would see her again, but shook the thought off and gave her a polite nod. Amelia smiled at him and exited, her thick hair falling out of its ponytail in distress. He watched her until the door fully closed, pushing his fists deeper into his pockets.

_Be careful, Amelia_, he thought before turning away and slouching off to research.


	6. Eviction

**So this chapter was necessary in order to get the story going and sort everything out for Amelia before I really jump start the action. Here's where the angst really starts, folks…consider this chapter the ending to a very long prologue! Haha. Excitement in store!**

**I do not own Death Note. **

* * *

Amelia had not wished to leave.

She knew better than to ask L if she could extend her visit, and reluctantly allowed Watari to see her home. Before she exited the cab, she heard her name come from Watari in the driver's seat. She looked to the older man quizzically and responded, "Yes?"

Watari turned his head to the side and smiled. "Whenever you plan on seeing L again, be sure to call using this phone." He handed her a small silver cell phone and Amelia took it, analyzing it with curiosity. She smiled. "Nice thinking, Watari," she said, putting the phone in her bag.

Watari chuckled. "It was in fact L's idea. He wants to avoid putting you under any uneccessary suspicion, since he now considers you as a contact. I am sure you are aware of L's seclusion for his own protection, correct?"

Amelia nodded and thought upon his words. _He now considers you as a contact…_

"Thank you, Watari," she said, opening the door to the cab to get out. "I will see you soon?"

Watari nodded and gave her a warm smile. "Of course, Amelia."

Amelia returned the smile and exited the cab, closed the door, and watched him drive off into the sinister street. She checked her watch and saw that it was nearing 12:30 in the morning. Grimacing, she conconcted a quick plan to hurry up to her apartment without being spotted by the landlord at such a time, since she was already greatly disliked because of her lack in payment of rent. It was not an unusual occurance for the old hag to be sitting in the lobby late at night scoffing at articles in the newspaper.

She opened the lobby door and saw that the wretched woman was sitting in a chair by the main desk reading the paper. Amelia held her breath and waited for her to notice her coming in, but she did not look up from her reading. She caught sight of the cover page of the paper and her stomach dropped.

_"Kira vs. L…Who Will Win?"_

A bubble of anger rose in her throat and she swallowed it down. _Don't think too much about it, _she thought. _It's just some bullshit story elaborated by the reader-hungry press…besides, as long as L stays in seclusion, Kira will never learn of his name and face…_

She sighed and made her way up the flights of stairs to her apartment. Unlocking the door, she quietly opened it and allowed herself in. She reached for the light switch and flicked it on, but the room remained dark. She closed her eyes and bit her tongue to refrain from cursing loudly. _So you've turned off my power, too. _

She rummaged through her bag and pulled out both her cell phone and the one that Watari had provided her with. Flipping them open for a source of light, she walked into the kitchen and looked through the cabinets for a candle and lighter. _This is so fucking primitive…no water, no light, no money…wouldn't Mother be proud. _

She froze at the thought. Her mother. She could barely remember what the woman had even looked like, along with her father. She had been left at the orphanage when she was too young to comprehend why they had left her there, and she preferred to think upon other things besides her parents abandoning her…

She lit the candle and made her way to her bedroom, carrying Watari's phone in her other hand. _I guess I have to swallow my pride and get a damn job waiting tables or something…either that, or it looks like I'll be living in darkness for awhile._

Amelia sat on her bed and flipped open Watari's phone again. To her surprise, there was a notice of a new text message that she had not seen before. She quickly opened it and felt her pulse race.

_"Amelia, I told Watari to give you this phone if you plan to call soon, so do not use your own. I trust that you understand my reasoning for this."_

Amelia smiled. _Yes, L, of course I understand, _she thought as she continued to read the message.

_"It would be wise for you to wait a few days before seeing me again, just to be safe. We may keep in contact through this phone only until then, but remember my words to you before we parted. It is crucial for this to be between only us and Watari. Be careful, Amelia."_

Amelia read the message over again and contemplated writing back, but decided that the message was intended to be a mere reminder and not a conversation-starter. As much as she wished to speak to him and ease her boredom, she closed the phone and set it down on her nightstand, which was a mere cardboard box with some lollipop wrappers littered on its surface and an empty water bottle. She lay on her back and held the candle in her hands, watching the orange flame intently with narrowed eyes. Its flickering glow threatened the consuming darkness of her room, a darkness that had the potential to scare her into staying awake for the night. As long as she had one flame, she could find solace.

_Just like L threatening the darkness of Kira…as long as there is one flame_…

Amelia felt the corners of her lips curl into a smile as she glared into the darkness as if Kira himself resided in it. _L will win, Kira. No…L _and _I will win. _

She squinted her eyes shut and pursed her lips tightly together. _Please, L…let me join this case...it's all that I have…_

* * *

Amelia fell asleep quicker than she expected after she blew out the candle, and awoke to the crude sound of a knocking on her door. She opened her eyes groggily, peeking out from under her sheets, and groaned in aggravation. She snapped the sheets off of her and stumbled out of bed, cringing from the cold surface of the wood floor, and trudged off to answer the door.

The dismal face of the apartment complex landlord greeted Amelia with disdain and she held back a scowl. She cleared her throat nervously and said, "Yes?"

The old woman's beady black eyes narrowed at her and she held out a thin paper to her. "Notice of eviction," she grumbled.

Amelia's blood chilled and she found that she could not take the paper from her. "W-what?" she stuttered weakly.

The landlord rolled her eyes and sneered. "You want me to say it again, Miss? You haven't paid your rent in over ninety days, we've waited long enough for you to catch up."

Amelia sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. "Yes, I understand that, but I'm having some financial issues that I've been trying to work out for quite some time-"

"You don't pay your rent, you get evicted. No exceptions," she said cruelly.

Amelia took the paper bitterly and clutched it in her fingers. "How long do I have?" she asked in a low tone.

"Nine days. If you are not out by then, we will be forced to take action-"

"I get it. Thank you," Amelia said coldly, closing the door in the landlord's fleshy face with a firm _thud._

She waited until she heard the heavy footsteps of the woman retreat from in front of her door and hollered a sharp, "Fuck!"

* * *

L crouched on the floor in front of his laptop and stared at the screen mutely, feeling a dreadful fatigue consume his reasoning. It was only ten in the morning; perhaps he could grab two or three hours of sleep and get back to work…

No, he could not bring himself to sleep under the circumstances. Not after the previous events he had experienced, not after the clues that he had unraveled thus far involving Kira…

Amelia could call at any moment requesting to see him, in spite of his message to her. He knew he had to be prepared for her to call or return his message, and he did not want to waste time needed to research…but he was growing weary…

"Watari!" he called out.

The older man appeared by the door in a stately fashion and looked at him. "Yes, L?"

"May you prepare some coffee? It appears as though I will be not be sleeping tonight either," he said monotonously, still staring at the screen. He ran his fingers across the keyboard absentmindedly and widened his eyes to keep them alert.

Watari released a soft chuckle. "And is that because of the Kira case or because of Miss Amelia?"

L jerked his head up to look at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Watari simply smiled and nodded slowly. "I will return momentarily with your coffee, L."

L watched him walk out, dumbstruck for once in his life, and he swallowed hard in frustration. He shook his head, convincing himself that the comment had merely been a joke, and distractedly returned to his laptop.

* * *

Pacing. Sweating. Crying. Cursing.

Amelia had not yet decided what her plan was, but she had been expressing these actions for the past few hours. It did not come as much of a surprise that she would eventually be evicted, but her mind was in such a flurry that she could not clearly think about what her next step would be from there.

Watari's phone sat on the box by her bed and L's face filled her head. She sighed and contemplated whether she should call or not, but realized that this sort of situation was something that L could have considered an emergency as she hurried over to grab the cell phone. She dialed the number that L's message had been sent from and waited for an answer, aware of her trembling hands. She briefly thought back to the first time she attempted to call Watari and how similar her emotions were at that moment.

It took two rings for a deep, quiet voice to intrude Amelia's ear. "That didn't take long."

"I've been evicted," she blurted out, wiping her eyes desperately.

"I see," L said calmly.

Amelia sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve. "I have nine days before I have to be out, but they turned off my power last night, too. I want to get out as soon as possible…" She felt her face redden in humiliation and she went on. "But I don't have a place to stay." At hearing these words, she lost control of herself and began sobbing violently. She pulled the phone away from her ear a few inches to lessen her volume, but to no avail.

"Amelia," L said softly. "Compose yourself for me, please. Calm down."

The gentle tone in his voice relaxed her slightly, and her weeping subdued slightly. "Ok," she whimpered out. "I'm trying."

"Now, I want you to collect whatever possessions you deem important by midnight, and we will follow the same plan as we did for you before. Understand?"

Amelia's mouth gaped open in revelation and she stuttered before saying, "L…"

She heard a soft laugh come from L on the other line. "Just have your belongings together by midnight, Amelia. Watari will meet you outside of your apartment at that time. Does that sound agreeable to you?"

Amelia clutched the phone to her ear again as the meaning of his words sank in to her. _I am…moving in with L…? _

"Amelia?" L asked when she did not answer for some time.

"Yes, yes, that sounds fine, very agreeable for me," she stammered, wiping her tear-streaked cheeks dry and sitting down on her bed to ease her shaking knees.

Before she could say anything else, L spoke in his relaxed tone and pierced through her own anxiety. "I am glad to hear that, Amelia. Now, then, I will see you tonight?"

His voice seemed strangely higher at the latter phrase, as if he had exposed a hint of excitement in his words, and Amelia grinned. "Yes, you will see me tonight. Under quite miserable circumstances, though."

"Either way, the opportunity has been given to us, so we have found some pleasure out of the state of affairs, haven't we?"

Amelia's face softened and she closed her eyes, a gracious smile warming the corners of her mouth. _You're always right, aren't you, L?_

**

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**Reviews are my candy. **


	7. The Blushing Game

**And here comes a longer chapter as we delve deeper into the lives of L and Amelia…woot…**

**I loved writing the angsty material in this chapter…one of my favorite chapters thus far. Things will only get better as the story goes on between them. Mischevious smile.**

**I don't own Death Note. Sorry, folks.**

* * *

"Ah, yes, you're a light packer indeed," L said the moment Amelia came through the door with Watari. He leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets and stared down onto the young woman with soft eyes.

The girl carried only three duffel bags, all being quite small, and her face was flushed along her cheeks and nose. Her lips were pouted in a candid manner, while her unruly hair was a mass of fuzzy oblivion that fell down the sides of her face out of its ponytail. She set her belongings onto the floor and exhaled sharply, giving him a bittersweet smile. "I didn't get evicted because of my bountiful and expensive things, L."

L chuckled. "Watari, please take Amelia's bags into her room. We have to-"

"My room?" Amelia asked, gazing up at him with perplexed eyes.

"Why, yes, unless you would prefer the floor," he said with a furtive smile. "Surely you are not that low maintenance, am I correct?"

Amelia returned his clandestine grin. "The floor wouldn't be much different from that damn apartment, so perhaps I am."

They stood in silence for a few moments, L slouching and Amelia fidgeting, and he felt the air turn serious again. He cleared his throat and said, "I suppose you wish to continue our conversation, don't you?"

* * *

"Have you ever taken on any cases just recently?"

Amelia sulked at L's question and ran her fingertip along the edge of her teacup. "Like I said, I haven't held any actual job in years, and that includes participating in any investigation. I just…never had the money." The words tasted bitter in her mouth and she took another sip of her tea to wash it down. When she saw the blank look on L's face, she felt the need to defend her position even more. "But that doesn't mean that I'm not capable of taking on a case such as this today," she said in a low, firm voice.

L nodded slowly. "I never doubted your capability, Amelia," he replied. "I simply wonder whether or not I am willing to put you in the grips of such a dangerous case. You must remember that you are not just an object that I can throw around carelessly." He sharpened his gaze on her, making Amelia pay closer attention to his words. "You are a human being, and you must be aware of the risks you would be taking."

Amelia did not know whether she wanted to scream at him or praise him for his care towards her, but the calm tone to his voice made her edge away from the former emotion. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I understand the risks, L, but I can't take sitting back and ignoring what I want any longer. I want to help." _More than anything, _she thought as she analyzed his somber face.

"As you always have. But this case is not one to be thrown directly into, Amelia…there are many precautions and threats that you have to keep in mind at all times before making such a rash decision-"

"This is most certainly _not_ a rash decision, L," Amelia retorted. "Have you forgotten that I wanted to be an investigator, too? Can you get over our asinine rivalry and just hear me out for once?"

She had not meant to snap, she knew that, and she immediately noticed L's face turn grave. He looked down at his tea and said quietly, "This is not about some foolish competition we had years ago. This is a case involving life and death, and I feel that you do not understand the full extent of that." He looked up slowly and met her eyes, making Amelia inch back on the couch slightly. He continued in a slow, unyielding tone. "Either that, or you in fact do understand it and are avoiding it to get your point across that you want to help without appearing phased by such a thought."

His accuracy in her thoughts angered her and she clenched her fists. "Stop acting as though I do not know what Kira is made of. It's not as though he beats little kids up for their lunch money; he's a cold blooded _murderer._" She tapered her eyes at him and leaned forward in her seat. "I'm not willing to take this case because it sounds like a good time. I'm willing to step in because it's what I _do._ You can't pretend that you don't know what that feels like, L."

L hesitated for a moment and Amelia felt her pulse race. _Say something…tell me anything…_

"I don't feel that I could let you enter this case and feel secure with it…"

She forced herself to stay seated, but she glared at him in disbelief. He was still not looking at her, giving her more leeway to release her anger through her eyes. "Why are you being like this? Are you blind to the fact that I have followed this damn case since it reached the public ears? I am not some stupid girl who thinks Kira is the cool new celebrity, I want to bring him to justice exactly like you do!"

He kept his eyes off of her and blankly stared into his teacup with pursed lips. "You wish to bring him to justice," he repeated quietly, almost seemingly to himself and not for Amelia's ears to pick up. Nevertheless, she did, and said, "Yes. Whether you wish to accept it or not."

She saw him glance up at her for a brief moment, his hair casting shadows upon his eyes in an eerie effect, and he quickly looked down again. "Who ever said that not accepting your wishes was the problem?"

She stared at him incredulously and threw up her hands in exasperation. "What other possible reason would there be for you refusing me to help with the case? Would you please listen to me without jumping to such conclusions?"

Her voice cracked and she recoiled in embarrassment. She could not lose control…if she lost sense of her emotions now, she would never prove herself worthy and stable person to take on such a serious case.

But goodness, was he pissing her off.

L's chest heaved in a sigh. "I am not jumping to conclusions, Amelia, I am trying to take some form of precaution for your own safety-"

"I don't need someone telling me what they think is right for me! I'm sick of feeling like a goddamn failure!"

The words came out before she could prepare for them. Her face went hot and she noticed L frown slightly, but he showed no drastic reaction. _How the hell does he stay so calm…? I'm practically screaming at him and he doesn't seem to care…_

L leaned forward in his crouched position and stared at her with his overwhelmingly dark eyes. "For you to think of yourself as a failure is quite unbecoming for someone whom I consider to be very strong, Amelia."

His words pierced through her with an irrefutable supremacy and she bit her bottom lip to hold back the stinging tears that were constricting her throat. She turned her face away from him and felt the severity of his gaze heavy upon her. She heard him sigh and the squeeking of the couch as he stood up. He kneeled down in front of her and she was forced to look at him. His large, normally blank eyes held a concern that she was not expecting from him. He blinked slowly and said, "The task force is going to have a difficult time trusting me if I don't make an appearance in person to them. If I want them to have my full trust, the move will be necessary."

Amelia stared at him, coming to terms with his relentlessness for the case if he was willing to show his face to others besides she and Watari. His face was very close to hers, yet her eyes were frozen onto his.

L's face softened, yet his eyes remained alert. "I can see how passionate you are to help with the Kira case…and you have proved yourself to be quite the logical one from our past years, wouldn't you agree?"

Amelia felt her heart race and she swallowed, holding back from building her hopes too high for his decision. She nodded slowly. "I suppose I do agree on that," she said shakily.

"It is a fact that I would never be able to fully cooperate with the task force unless I have their full trust," he addressed. "If you feel it appropriate on your behalf, you may attend when the time comes."

_He said it. _

Amelia was aware of her heart pounding in her throat as she eyed him in shock. "You mean I can-"

L hinted at a smile and sighed again. "Yes, Amelia, I am saying that you can indeed help with the case…but we must start you off very low key."

Amelia cocked one eyebrow and listened closely.

"We must first find you a proper alias to use in place of your real name when in the company of the task force." L cracked a slight smile before saying, "And since you have no credentials or any professional investigatory background, we must at least pretend you do if we expect the task force to take you seriously."

Amelia nodded, paying close attention to each of his words. She already knew that she would need an alias, much like L, and blushed slightly at realizing that she had no certified documents of being a high-class detective, but she knew that she had the brains and the motives to surpass the standards. This was what she had wanted for years, and she refused to let her lack of deeds hold her back. She smiled softly to herself when she realized that L knew this.

L's thumb met his bottom lip and stared into her eyes, his poignant dark irises meeting with her cerulean ones. Amelia had planned something to respond with, but the words escaped her for a foreign reason. He had that same blank, contemplating gaze that he had given her when first seeing her again, and Amelia struggled not to look away. "You sure do have a custom of staring, L," she said, chuckling softly to ease her nerves and wiping her palms on her gray sweatpants.

He rubbed his lip with his thumb and Amelia's eyes lingered on it. His lips were thin, smooth and faintly pink, and her cheeks turned warm as she watched his slender thumb glide over them. She acutely wondered why he had such a tendency to do so, but his voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Are you feeling well, Amelia?" he asked, the words coming out slightly muffled due to his thumb obscuring them coming out properly.

Amelia cleared her throat and cocked her eyebrow once more. "Yes, quite well, why do you ask?" Her voice sounded strange in her ears, like a child trying to squeeze their way out of a lie. High pitched and far from her usual soft-spoken, staid alto.

L pointed to his right cheek with his free hand. "You seem heated," he remarked innocently. Amelia wanted to laugh at how oblivious he could be at times, in spite of his incredible logic and though process, but all of the moisture that once resided in her mouth moments ago had suddenly migrated to her hands as she relentlessly rubbed them against her thighs to dry them. "It's somewhat…um…warm in here," she muttered, wishing she could pull her gaze from his and alleviate her unethical blushing. She felt and most likely looked like a fool; not as though she had been particularly conventional to begin with.

L stood up from his crouching position in front of her, giving her an almost playful grin. "Either the heater is working all too well, or you were blushing. Was knowing that you have been granted assistance in the case truly that pleasing to you?"

Amelia's jaw dropped, and she quickly recollected it. "I was most certainly _not_ blushing. There is, in fact, nothing to blush about." She stood up, suddenly feeling inferior to his standing position, and gave him a strong stare. _Take this as a test, _she thought with a cryptic amusement, _don't let his apprehending get to you. _

L hesitated, the smile on his face widening slightly. It was a strange occurance to Amelia seeing him smile in such a manner, and she inwardly relished its rarity while at the same time keeping her stance solid, her gaze steady and unfaltering. Even though her insides were trembling with an alien anxiety, she could not let him see it. No, not at all.

"If you had in fact not been blushing, it makes me wonder why you would suddenly go on such a strong defensive to make me believe you," he said with a simplicity that made Amelia's blood boil. Before she could fight it off, a warmth crept upon her face again and she jerked her gaze away from him. Much to her dismay, she heard him laugh softly and say, "You cannot deny the fact that that was a blush, Amelia."

All intelligent words left her mind and she muttered, "Oh, shut up."

"As you wish," L responded, a teasing edge to his voice. He began walking away to the bathroom and, without turning to face her, nonchalantly said, "I shall be in the shower if you need me."

Amelia immediately burst out laughing, knowing very well that L had not fully calculated his words before uttering them. L slowly turned to her with a befuddled look on his face and said, "I didn't mean-"

Amelia pointed to her cheeks with both hands and put on an overly innocent expression. "L, are you _feeling well?" _she mocked before grinning from ear to ear.

L stared at her, wide-eyed, but his face slowly softened in an amused smirk. "You play the game with skill, Amelia."

The deep nature of his voice nearly threw Amelia off of her victorious guard, but she remained confident as she stood in the middle of the living room. She did a small bow and tilted her head up to look at him, smiling. "We are not still even for no reason, L."

* * *

L would liked to have believed that he was not apprehensive about Amelia joining the case, no matter how low key he would keep her, but judging by the swarm of anxiety that had eroded his mind the moment he stepped into the shower, he knew that his tranquility on the situation was long gone.

Either way, he had to admit that something in the way that she had been so willing to assist heightened his admiration and respect for her. He had never come across another woman who would knowingly risk her life for justice, for the cause of bringing Kira to his fate.

Which was exactly what he was doing.

He squinted his eyes shut as he let the warm water stream down his face, trying to wash away the thoughts of Amelia's blushing, which had been all too feminine for such a low-maintenance girl. He did not recall her being a blusher, but he did not find it…unattractive.

It had been a charming pink wave spread across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, drowning out her freckles and replacing them with the mark of her sudden embarrassment. What had caused the flushing uproar, he was uncertain.

But it had been one entertaining and charming show.

_She told me to shut up, _he thought with a smile as he ran his fingers through his wet hair, rinsing any shampoo that may have lingered. _Somehow, I doubt that she actually wanted me to shut up at all._

He was surprised at his own thought process, along with unsure as to why he had been so spellbound when he had witnessed her face redden. For someone as serious and focused as Amelia Lasswell, it had been the most human and uncontrolled act he had seen out of her over the last three days.

What confused him the most was that he had found it frighteningly endearing.

* * *

"Why, how the mighty have fallen…asleep?"

Amelia struggled to open her eyes and saw L looming over the back of the couch that she was laying upon, looking down on her with curiosity. Her vision cleared when she rubbed her nap-induced eyes and she stared up at him.

He certainly looked different from his shower, Amelia knew that very well.

His black hair was limp and dripping with water, and framed his pale face in a much softer manner instead of bursting out in multiple directions at once like usual. His magnolia complexion seemed smoother, more porcelain than previously, and his eyes held an engaging drowsiness while at the same time possessing the very inquiring edge and boldness that Amelia could only hope she had in herself. He wore his usual white shirt, but this particular one hung more loosely below his slender neck and she could see his protruding collarbone and the subtle muscles of the top of his chest.

A single droplet of water clung to his delicate chin. Her eyes latched onto it and she watched it fall down to the edge of the couch.

_...What's wrong with me?_

She wiped her mouth to avoid any possible drool that she could have emitted and not known of and yawned. "I wasn't expecting to fall asleep so quickly. Your couch is just so comfortable," she said with a slight 

laugh. Goodness, she was tired…and goodness, the way he was staring down at her would be the death of her dignity if he kept it up.

"Perhaps you should go to bed, then. I'm afraid of what a cranky Amelia would be like in the morning time," L said. The droll, sleepy tone to his voice made her eyelids grow heavy again and she yawned once more. When she opened her eyes, she realized that either L had leaned slightly lower to her or she was imagining it.

She decided on the latter, just to avoid any possible blushing attack.

She slowly stood up on lethargic legs and rubbed the back of her sore neck. "Cranky Amelia is quite a scary thought," she said, slurring her words slightly. She stared at L and ran her fingers through her hair sleepily. "Goodnight, then?" she said, walking backwards into the hallway.

L was standing in the middle of living room, his hands in his pockets as usual, his dripping hair clinging to his face and neck. He hesitated before nodding quickly. "Yes, goodnight," he responded. His voice seemed somewhat strained, but Amelia's mind was too hazy with sleep to react to it.

She instintively went into L's bedroom and collapsed onto the bed, her face buried into his pillow and inhaling his scent before drifting off to slumber.

* * *

L had been walking to the bathroom when he saw that Amelia had left his bedroom door wide open.

He paused before meeting with the open doorway and could faintly see the outline of a sleeping Amelia sprawled across his bed. Before he could stop it, his lips curled into a smile and he squinted his eyes to see more clearly.

Her arms were wrapped around his pillow, her face buried within it, and her legs were in awkward positions. He could see the gentle rise of her back as she deeply inhaled, the heavy fall as she exhaled. The sheets were tangled beneath her, and L furrowed his brow in concern for her warmth. He walked back into the living room and grabbed the blanket from the couch, then made his way back to the room. Holding his breath, he quietly stepped into the bedroom and over to the sleeping form of Amelia. He carefully draped the blanket over her body and stepped back slowly. When she stirred, L felt his heart skip a beat in fear of being caught standing next to the bed while she slept…the possible conclusions that Amelia would jump to frightened him.

Much to his relief, she merely turned onto her side and snuggled her face into the pillow deeper. There was a faint smile on her face, her hair fanning over her face and obscuring his view of her features. She did not seem her twenty-two years in the slightest, and the innocence given off through her slumber entranced L as he slowly backed up from the bed and out of the room. He rested his fatigued body on the living room couch and smiled softly before recalling what she had said to him before.

_We are not still even for no reason, L._

L closed his eyes and felt his body grow heavy from such an extended lack of slumber. Perhaps he could find it in himself to sleep tonight…

_She blushed…Amelia Lasswell, of all people…blushed…_

_

* * *

_

**SO. I smell sexual tension growing! And I loved the imagery of L in the shower, even though it was quite unsexual anyway. Shrug. I just love L in general. Don't you?**

**I'm excited about the next chapter…Amelia's about to meet the task force! Review, please, feedback is much appreciated!**


	8. Bang!

**Here come the task force! Yay! Which means I get to write me some Matsuda, which means I am a very happy authoress right now!!**

**Little note…I am quite jealous of Amelia in this scene. Now, onto the story.**

**I STILL don't own Death Note.**

* * *

"Amelia!"

Someone was loudly whispering into her ear, shaking her, but Amelia could not pull herself out of her sleepy stupor. She squinted her eyes shut and swatted her hand out at her intruder, but was only returned with her intruder grabbing her flailing wrist from moving anymore and said loudly, "Amelia, wake up!"

She groaned loudly and cracked open her eyes. "What?!" she hollered, irritable that she had been awoken when she was in desperate need of sleep.

The face of L reared back from her ear quickly and he sighed. "You need to get up and gather enough provisions to last for two days. We need to check in in approximately one hour.." His voice trailed off and he gave her a confused look. "Your glaring is making me quite the nervous one, Amelia."

Amelia sat up angrily and narrowed her eyes more, still dizzy with fatigue. "I'm tired, dammit," she slurred, failing at making herself look firm.

L appeared indifferent and scratched the back of his head. "As am I. But that does not change the fact

that we have to check in at the hotel in one hour."

"What hotel? What are you talking about?" Amelia asked. She rubbed her eyes desperately and was aware of a prevailing headache in her temples.

"The Imperial Hotel," he said jadedly. "If we plan on meeting with the task force, it is a necessary action to relocate ourselves often. Do you understand?"

By the time he finished his sentence, Amelia had collapsed back onto the bed and covered her face with her hands. She heard a heavy sigh and suddenly felt one hand go under her back and another slip under her knees. She yelped as she felt herself being picked up off of the bed by L and she removed her hands from her face to stare at him. "What the hell is wrong with y-"

"Would you have gotten up if I hadn't done this, Amelia?" L asked dryly, not looking down at her but instead straight ahead of him as he cradled her awkwardly in his arms. Amelia was thankful that the room was still dark due to the warmth that had crept upon her cheeks at the unexpected contact. L gently put her down onto her foot and stared down at her. "You can sleep on the way to the hotel if you wish," he said softly, biting his thumb nail.

Amelia, still in a dim haze, nodded in a mute fashion and obeyed his previous demand to gather her things. As she began stuffing haphazard clothing into her duffel bag, she asked, "What time is it?"

"Four in the morning, or in other words, your hour of crankiness," L remarked with an innocence that boiled Amelia's blood. She jerked her head up at him and gave him an irate stare before going back to packing, and heard him say, "You have thus proven me correct, Amelia. Would you like some help packing?"

Amelia pursed her lips, too tired to be dealing with any humor or teasing, and she violently shook her head. "I am quite fine, thank you," she snapped. "And could you stop with the mockery, please? Some of us get slightly pissed off when waken from our sleep, I'll have you know."

She wanted to kick herself for being so upfront with him, but her head was pounding at a tragically painful rate and her limbs were weak from exhaustion. L nodded slowly and stared at her in his normal forward fashion. "My apologies. I will be sure to make enough coffee for the both of us."

His strange remark threw Amelia out of her anger and she sighed, but chose not to respond in fear of barking at him again. She kept her glazed-over eyes concentrated on her duffel bag being swollen with her belongings as she heard him quietly exit the room.

* * *

The ride to the Imperial Hotel was silent, for Amelia had fallen asleep within moments of closing her door.

L could not help but watch her in her most trusting state as he sat in the backseat beside her. Her cheek rested on the window and her mouth was pouted open from being pressed against the glass. Her head would occasionally loll to the opposite side and she would squint her eyes from the movement, but immediately fall back into her dream. After a particularly sharp turn, L realized that her head would strike the window with force if he did not prevent it, and he wrapped one arm around her shoulder and pulled her away from the window with ease.

Amelia awoke suddenly and looked up at him with drowsy eyes while he was slipping his arm off of her shoulder. "You were about to hit the window," he whispered, trying not to break the peaceful silence that had lured Amelia into sleep. The girl nodded drunkenly and, much to L's surprise, rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes again. L felt himself stiffen at the contact, but slowly relaxed so as to not wake her again. She subconsciously nuzzled her cheek deeper into his shirt and L swallowed hard, trying not to squirm. He was not used to this…but then again, he did not want to disturb her respite once more and simply allowed it.

The warmth of her cheek on his shoulder comforted him as he stared out the car window into the darkness of the early morning.

* * *

One settled in the hotel room, Amelia immediately noticed that there was only one bed in the vicinity.

"Well, that's interesting," she said as she placed her bag next to the small dresser in the bedroom. She looked to L for an answer and nearly laughed at his expression, which was one of a wide-eyed confusion. He cleared his throat and said, "I believe that I booked the room before you moved in, thus explaining this…predicament."

Amelia chuckled at his word choice and rubbed her tired eyes again. She had awoken in the car to her face buried in L's shoulder and all of her limbs languid and warm, with L gently alerting her of their arrival. She had made a moan of protest, wishing to continue sleeping, unaware of just how embarrassed she would be later when the situation came to her memory. She chose to act as though she did not remember it, or that it had never happened at all to save them both of discomfort.

"You may have the bed and I will take the couch if I decide to sleep," L said with finality. "I apologize for not being able to get you your own room, but this will only be for two days until we move again." He made his way over to the kitchen and began preparing coffee, his disheveled hair flopping over his eyes.

Amelia looked at him in an amused wonder. "That's a silly thing to apologize for, L," she replied. She began pulling her hair up into a ponytail and yawned. "Besides, it's not as though you're _that_ repulsive." There was a humor in her voice that made L look up and return the playful smile that he gave him.

"Likewise. I think I will be able to tolerate being in the same room as you for the time being," he said, grinning while tending the coffee machine. "As long as you tolerate me."

Amelia lay upon the bed on her back and smiled up at the ceiling, closing her eyes. "That sounds like a lovely idea to me."

* * *

"Lise Murray, nice to meet you."

Amelia's voice from the doorway of the bathroom made him jerk his head up in the midst of brushing his teeth. He looked at her in the mirror and gave her a quizzical look before spitting out the toothpaste into the sink. "Alias?" he asked. "Or are you having an identity crisis?"

Amelia smirked. "The former. Do I look like a Lise Murray?"

"I think so, considering that you are English and not Japanese," he said with a soft chuckle. He studied her face quizzically and bit on his thumb nail in a newfound anxiety as he remembered exactly why they were there. "The task force will be meeting here tonight at . How are you feeling?"

His question seemed to take her by surprise judging by her brow creasing slightly. "I'm fine, excited even. This is the closest I've ever come to being a true investigator." She leaned against the door frame and pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "And I'd like to…thank you." She shifted her weight, almost sheepishly, and turned her attentive eyes to his. L felt his pulse quicken at her sudden sensitivity and swallowed hard, going back to biting his nail.

"This opportunity is one that I have been trying to find for years, and I have the chance to work with my friend at the same time," Amelia continued, fiddling with her earlobe distractedly.

L's heart had skipped a beat when she had utter the single word. _Friend._

Amelia stood in front of him, tugging at her earlobe incessantly, waiting for him to speak. L, still caught on the singular word that no one had ever applied to him before, stared at her with something acutely pounding in his temples. "And I'm…" He fought for words as he tried to contain his disbelief of her use of the the word that his ears had been neglected from. "…I'm very pleased to be working with you as well, Amelia."

She smiled softly and nodded once, her disorderly hair fanning along her cheek at the swift movement. She flicked the strand out of her eyes and muttered something along the lines of, "This damn hair is going to be the death of me."

L felt the corners of his lips warm into a smirk of amusement and the idea of her meeting the task force did not seem so stomach-wrenching.

Slightly.

* * *

Regardless of how anxious Amelia was to meet with the task force, it was not a hassle for her to catch up on sleep until they arrived. She awoke at around three in the afternoon, deeply cuddled beneath the hotel's comforter, but was quickly greeted with a horrible headache and closed her eyes again, more or less squinting 

them to block out the intruding sunlight through the window. She was freezing, shivering, and wrapped the blankets tighter around her.

She let out a groan of pain and rolled over to her other side, and heard the faint footsteps of L padding along the floor. "Are you awake yet?"

She did not open her eyes due to the blinding pain that resided behind them, but she managed to say, "Somewhat. My head is pounding like hell." She rubbed her temples in an attempt to alleviate her migraine, but she realized that the touch merely made her head ache more and she recoiled in anguish. "Shit," she muttered.

She had not realized that L had walked away momentarily and returned to her, standing by the bed holding a washcloth that appeared to be wet. Amelia gave him a curious look, careful to open her eyes too much, and watched him kneel down by the bedside. "Lay on your stomach for me," he said very softly, which Amelia was gracious for. She did not bother to protest and followed suit, carefully rolling off of her side and onto her stomach. She felt L move her hair aside and place the warm washcloth against her tender neck, then position two of his fingers upon the sensitive pressure point just below the base of her skull. He gently pressed against it and rubbed the tense area in slow circles. Amelia felt herself become rigid at his unexpected touch, but she was far too weak to make any form of movement.

"Try to relax. This can release some of the pressure in your cerebral area and increase circulation, " he instructed. The calming monotone of his voice merging with the the sensation of his fingers skillfully massaging her pressure point caused her to loosen and she sank deeper into the bed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She exhaled slowly and began to feel the severity of her migraine dispel slightly. A warm drowsiness washed over her limbs once more and she felt herself slipping into sleep.

"Does this help at all?" L whispered from the bedside. Much to Amelia's embarrassment, she became aware of a foreign fluttering in her stomach at the sound of his voice speaking to her so intimately and in such a soft manner, a husky undertone in his whisper. She knew well enough that he was only whispering because of her heightened sensitivity to noise and not to be sensual, but the heat on her aching neck combined with his fingers gracing the tender area above her vertebrae brought her far too much relief to think chaste thoughts. Besides, she had never heard him whisper so close to her before…

"Mhmm," she mumbled, the fatigue rendering her unable and unwilling to utter actual words. She shivered when she felt L flip the washcloth to the fresh side and returned it to her neck. "Good, good…"

If he spoke any other words to her after that, Amelia would never know, for she quickly fell into a content sleep.

* * *

It was nearing 10:00 p.m. when Amelia stumbled out of the hotel bed, her stomach growling violently from lack of food. Her migraine had cleared enough for her to see straight, but she still could not ignore the dull, pulsating sensation above her eyebrows and along the back of her head. She rolled her shoulders back a few times to release the tension in her spine as she walked to the kitchen.

L was crouching on the couch with his laptop sitting on the coffee table in front of him. He held a small plate with a ridiculous portion of chocolate cake and ate it feverishly while reading something on his laptop with a keep interest. Without turning around to face her, he said, "How are you feeling now, Amelia?"

She gasped at his sudden statement and recollected herself. "I feel well enough for tonight. If I had been beheaded I would still be well enough, L."

She heard him laugh softly. "As I would expect you to be." He began typing rapidly on his keyboard and remained to keep his back to her. Amelia noticed that his hair was far more disheveled than she remembered from earlier; deep black strands snapped out in different directions along the back of his head like spokes and met his slender neck in a careless abandon.

There would be nothing better suited for one like he.

"Did my method work for your headache? I see that it put you to sleep very well," L declared from the couch.

Amelia felt her heart pound at the memory. "It proved to be quite…effective," she said, choosing her words carefully when she recalled how she had been so easily aroused by it. "How did you learn that?"

"I suppose I'm just…skilled?" L said. There was an air of innocence in his statement in which told Amelia that he did not intend the possible innuendo, but she nevertheless blushed and made her way into the kitchen. L looked up at her and said, "Cake?" He held out a second plate of chocolate cake to her with his eyebrows raised inquisitively. Amelia leapt at the opportunity and beamed before acception the plate from him, sitting on the opposite couch. "Grazi, my friend," she said.

L's eyes widened and a bashful smile thawed the corners of his mouth. Amelia acutely wondered what she had done to make him smile so, but all thoughts were forgotten when she took a bite from the cake. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she gave a satisfied groan. L said, "I agree with that, Amelia."

She laughed and watched him type away at his laptop, his brow furrowed in concentration and his bottom lip tucked under his teeth. The heavy bags beneath his eyes made her want to drag him by the ankles to the bed and force him to sleep. It was one matter that they were polar opposites on; it seemed as though while sleeping was a hobby of hers, it would not phase L if he went his entire life without it if possible.

Her trance was broken when there was a slight rap at the door. L slowly looked up at her and raised his brow. Amelia suddenly looked down at her pajamas and imagined the chaos that was her hair and jumped up, exclaiming, "Shit!"

She ran over to her bag and frantically pulled out a pair of horribly bleached jeans and an orange tank top, then quickly began stripping down to change as if she were the only one in the room.

"A-Amelia-"

"Don't look!" she shouted childishly while slipping out of her sweatpants and into her jeans, not bothering to loko up at the raven-haired man. She quickly finished changing and tossed her dirty clothes into her bag. Running her fingers through her hair in a desperate attempt to neaten it, she caught her breath and her eye with L.

The man's eyes were wide, as if horrified, and his thumb hovered in front of his lips. He appeared frozen in time as he simply gaped at her. Amelia was about to scold him for not turning away when she had asked him to, but stopped when there was another series of knocks upon the hotel door. L seemingly came to his senses and called out, "The door is unlocked, please allow yourselves in."

Amelia silently scoffed and muttered, "You could have at least opened the door for them."

L gave her a faint smirk of defiance and shoved his hands into his pockets. "To each his own, Ms. Lasswell."

Amelia felt her heart jump rapidly in her chest as she watched the door open. Five men all clad in business suits stepped in, looking particularly nervous, and one of them closed the door. Amelia immediately felt out of place in her overly casual attirem but as she glanced over at L, she conjectured that she would not look all too peculiar as compared to him.

"I'm L," he said, scratching the back of his calf with his toes and sounding painfully indifferent in his dry tone. Amelia straightened her posture and made sure to appear a smidge more approachable than the lanky detective beside her. "Lise Murray, pleasure to meet you all."

She noticed one of the men with rather comically poofy hair and a wide nose narrow his eyes at her in a questionable manner, but she chose to ignore it. Her eyes went to another member of the group, whom appeared the be the youngest of them all and perhaps the least intimidating, and he gave her a friendly smile. Amelia returned it, greatly relieved that someone had broken the tension for her.

She listened carefully as all of the members of the task force introduced themselves and committed their names to her sharp memory. _Yagami, stately man, head of the NPA...Matsuda, he smiled at me, seems the least frightening…Aizawa, he glared at me like I was an axe murderer, I'll remember that…Ukita, large ears, reminds me of a pixie…Mogi, burly, could seriously kick someone's ass if he wanted…_

She glanced over at L to see his reaction and saw that his eyelids drooped over his eyes halfway and held a general expression of distaste. She watched in dread as he raised his arm and formed his pale hand into the shape of a gun before barking, "Bang!"

She was not surprised when it caused a confused uproar, nor was she all that shocked that L would pull such a stunt. As the men demanded an explanation from the detective, she merely closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling her headache returning all too soon.

* * *

**Sorry for the cliffhanger, if you can call it that, but the next chapter is going to be quite long. The task force is quite fun to write, I must say…**

**Thanks for reading! Please review and let me know your thoughts!**


	9. Fever

**Goodness, this chapter took FOREVER to write. I wanted to get it exactly right…and I think I came**

**semi-close to it. Nevertheless, I loved writing the dialogue between Amelia and the task force here, not to**

**mention L.**

**Fluffiness up ahead …and some lovely angst…you'll see! Enjoy!**

**Would anyone actually believe me if I said I owned Death Note? Exactly.**

* * *

Amelia's nerves had fully settled in the pit of her stomach once she sat down on an armchair opposite of L, taking in the faces of the men around her. She was thankful that her memory was as reliable as it was, for she had to remember to call L by the name of Ryuzaki when in the company of the task force, while at the same time staying loyal to her own alias. It was an anomalous feeling having to call the man that she had known since childhood by a completely different name, but it was even more peculiar when she heard her fake forename be spoken aloud.

"Lise, may I ask you something? Not to be, um, you know, rude or anything…but…"

Amelia glanced up from her coffee and saw that it was Matsuda whom had spoken. She raised her eyebrows quizzically and said, "Yes, Matsuda?" She took a sip from her mug and held it between both of her small hands as she waited for the dreamy-eyed man to speak.

Matsuda cleared his throat hastily and gave her a nervous smile. "Ok…um, who exactly…are you?"

"Yeah, that's what I've been waiting to find out, too," Aizawa said from the couch. His voice held a sharpness that made Amelia squirm. "I thought we were coming here to meet with L, not L and some random girl."

Amelia swallowed her coffee hard and felt her stomach grow uneasy at hearing Aizawa speak. She could handle Matsuda asking the question alone, but she did not need the firm input from the man whom had just recently glared at her simply for introducing herself. She suddenly felt as anxious as Matsuda appeared and she stuttered, "W-well, I'm-"

"Lise is my partner in this investigation; my colleague," L's composed voice cut through. Amelia and the task force all turned to stare at him as he held his cup of tea delicately between two fingers. "I asked for her cooperation on this case, for I feel her reasoning and passion for bringing Kira to justice is quite…admirable."

Amelia felt something in her heart waver when he quickly glanced up at her, catching her gaze for less than one second, but it was long enough for her to know that he did not regret the decision in letting her assist him. She tried not to appear too shaken by his statement and simply nodded in appreciation towards him, even though her pulse was in fact racing as she replayed his words over again in her mind. _Reasoning…passion…justice…so he does see it after all._

She turned her eyes to Aizawa and saw that although his face had only softened faintly, he still had a doubtful look on his face. She took an innocent sip of her coffee and the man met her eyes. "Alright. I guess if Ryuzaki trusts you-"

"Thank you, Aizawa," L interrupted. "Now, shall we move on to the matters at hand or does anyone else wish to question Lise's position?" His eyes were slightly narrowed and the slight bitterness in his voice told Amelia that he either did not appreciate the time being wasted on trivial matters, or that he was offended that the task force seemed more intrigued in why she was there than the case.

Nevertheless, the tingling in her stomach had not left her.

* * *

She was very compelling to watch, L soon realized.

Amelia sat cross-legged in the armchair, leaning forward attentively and her deep blue eyes wide and alert. He noticed that she was chewing her bottom lip, ostensibly a habit of hers when she was in deep focus, and she would occasionally glance at him in means for comfort. She was jittery, anxious, and for reasons unknown to L, he found it highly motivating.

"Lise," he said, getting her attention. She immediately looked at him with dutiful eyes and allowed him to continue. "I would like to know some of your thoughts on why Kira commits these crimes. You witnessed the Kanto broadcast, correct?"

He was pleased to see her face light up at the opportunity to speak. "Yes, I did."

"What did you conjecture from the death of Lind L. Tailor?"

Amelia cleared her throat and gave him an intense gaze, knowing very well why he was asking her such questions. "I believe Kira needs a name and face to kill his victims, judging by how both were exposed on the news the day of Lind L. Tailor's death."

"What exactly leads you to this theory, Lise?" Yagami, the chief of the NPA, asked.

L saw Amelia sit more upright in her chair and he suppressed a smile. He knew that she could handle this, and handle it with suavity and wisdom. The entire room listened as she spoke. "Not only did the fake 'L' die on live television because of exposing his name and face to Kira, but when the legitimate L egged him on to kill him, Kira was unable to because he did not have these two components. You would think that if the opportunity to kill the man that has been claimed the greatest detective in the world appeared to him, he would take advantage of it without hesitation. But because he didn't, it only heightens my certainty that he simply could not kill him."

L watched Amelia survey each of the faces of the task force and she continued in a low, firm voice. "Another thing that I have found is that Kira is not as, shall I say, noble as he is trying to make himself out to be. He did not hesitate to kill someone that was threatening his position, regardless of being the real L or not, thus showing to me that he will kill anyone who dares to get in his way. This is not just a matter of 'ridding the world of evil' to him anymore." At these words, Amelia raised her fingers into the symbols of quotation marks and spoke in an almost sarcastic tone. "This is a matter of getting whoever he can out of the way in order to elude being caught before his ideal world is interrupted."

L nodded in approval slowly to himself when he saw the faces of the task force turn to awe. _Well done, Amelia. _

"Which means…if Kira knows that we're onto him, we're all in danger?" Matsuda timidly said.

"We all must be aware of the risks that we are taking in tracking down Kira…I never said that this would be a hazard-free case," L replied. He looked at Amelia in particular and saw that she was staring back at him, catching on to his words as he hoped she would.

"Ryuzaki is correct," Amelia said, her eyes still latched onto his. "But that does not mean that we should abandon this cause. I know that I for one would never forgive myself if I allowed a serial killer to roam the world freely simply because of any fears of mine."

L allowed his lips to briefly curl into a smile and he nodded slightly to her. _I suppose it's time that I let you in on a few things now..._

"Lise's theory can be even better proven when we consider the deaths of the twelve FBI agents just recently."

Amelia's eyes widened and she gave him a _Why-didn't-you-tell-me-this-you-bastard?_ look, but L gave her a quick glance of reassurance and addressed the task force. "When the file was sent to the agents containing the names of faces of all of them, they were killed off successfully by the hand of Kira. The order in which the file was received by the agents is one of the most crucial clues that we have right now concerning their deaths."

He glanced at Amelia again, and he was not sure if she was giving him a death glare or just paying attention to what he was saying. He never truly knew with her anyway…

"If Kira can if fact control his victims' actions before their deaths, I would say that the agents' deaths would tie in with that power," he said. He ran his finger around the brim of his tea cup and eyed each member in the room, hesitating on Amelia. She began fiddling with her earlobe again before saying, "But wouldn't that mean that Kira would have had to had some form of contact with one of the agents in order to achieve the information?"

_Nothing gets past you, Amelia…I knew better than to underestimate you, _L thought before nodded with finality. "Exactly."

"So we need to figure out which agent communicated with Kira that alllowed him to gain access to their names and faces," Amelia said with an air of thoughtfulness, as if talking to herself. She was drumming her fingers against her thighs excitedly, her eyes were alive and wide with an enthusiasm that L was faintly jealous of. While he crouched in his chair blandly sipping his tea, she was practically rocking back and forth about to burst with anticipation. _Then again, she has never had this opportunity come to her before…she's doing quite well so far…_

He merely rested his chin on the tops of his knees and marveled at her. _There's no turning back now, Amelia…you're in._

* * *

It was nearing one in the morning, yet Amelia had never felt so awake in her life. She could feel her limbs buzzing with a vigilant energy as she studied the FBI documents that L had received distributed for analysis. She was surrounded by the men of the task force, speaking vivaciously to each of them, wondering whether L was watching her from his standing position by the window.

No, she could not get distracted now, she was on a roll. _He's probably just taking a breather anyway,_ she thought. _No need to get your mind in a fizzle about it just yet._

"Lise, I never had the chance to tell you that we are honored to work with you in catching Kira. Anyone who L would trust and work with immediately has our respect," Yagami said, gently bowing his head to her.

Amelia felt a swell of joy rise in her chest and she smiled. "As I am honored to work with all of you, too. Thank you."

"So what's it like to work with L, you know, _all _the time?" Matsuda asked. He was leaning forward and beaming at her like a child at Christmas and Amelia giggled at the amusing sight. "Does he ever get cranky?"

"Matsuda!" Yagami and Aizawa scolded in unison.

Amelia laughed harder and shrugged, setting her coffee cup down on the table. It had not been the first time that evening that Matsuda had asked a random question and be reprimanded for it, but Amelia did not find the young man as bothersome as the others did. His goofiness released some of the nerves that would occasionally bundle in her stomach, and she even felt the need to defend him like a big sister would. "It's no problem, really. And he doesn't get as cranky as I do sometimes, Matsuda," she said with a grin. "If he goes without sugar or if I don't get enough sleep, then we have a problem, though."

Matsuda laughed cheerfully. "So you and L are basically friends? Wow, I didn't think someone as busy as L would have time for friends."

Amelia swallowed her coffee a little too quickly and nearly choked, but she coughed and looked at Matsuda. "Well, I suppose we're friends because of how much we see each other, but he's definitely not…um…conventional?"

_Then again, neither am I…_

At the thought of him, she looked up to the other side of the room and saw L standing by the window, slouching and gazing out of the glass. She glanced back at the men around her and said, "Excuse me for a moment." She stood up and approached the slender man, then stood by him with her shoulder grazing his arm accidently. The lights of the buildings beyond the window were clustered in the darkness, and Amelia vaguely wondered who else was awake at such an early hour.

"You impressed me tonight, Amelia."

She looked up at L, whom was smiling very mistily, his eyelids limp over his black eyes. His voice was just above a whisper and sent a slight shiver through her to hear him say her real name again. "Thank you," she responded softly.

"I apologize for not informing you of the FBI agents' deaths beforehand," he said, turning his face to hers and looking her straight in the eye. "I wanted to see how you would handle such information when immediately given. You handled it very well."

Amelia swallowed hard and chewed on her lip. She was suddenly nervous with his gaze upon her, although it was no different than how he had looked at her before. Perhaps it was the newfound level of trust that had formed between them now that they had beared themselves to the task force…she was unsure.

"They may stay longer and discuss the case. Can you manage to stay awake for just a little longer?" he asked, a very subtle stitch of concern in his eyes.

She smiled at his question and nodded, trying to mask the fact that her headache was beginning to return in her temples. "I'm fine. I wouldn't want to miss out on any conversation simply because I was tired."

L's eyes studied her closely with a curious, calm expression before saying, "That's what I was hoping you would say."

* * *

The task force departed at around two in the morning, and Amelia collapsed onto the couch as the exhaustion of the night hit her. Her energy had been spent talking, listening, analyzing, reasoning, and suddenly all she could do was lay limply upon the soft cushions and close her eyes. "So this is what it's like to have a job," she said contentedly as she put her hands under her head.

She heard L's footsteps and opened her eyes before sitting up. "I think I like it."

L chuckled quietly and handed her a cup of steaming tea. "I have a feeling that your throat will be sore when you wake up due to how much you talked tonight."

Amelia took an inviting sip of the warm chamomille and let it wash down her throat. "I think you're right. But nevertheless, it was most certainly worth it. I haven't felt that inspired in a long time."

L sat down on the other end of the couch, taking her slightly off guard. He looked exhausted but at the same time held a tranquility that Amelia knew she did not possess at the moment from her excitement. "I'm glad to hear that, Amelia," he said. His eyes met hers and he gave her a gentle smile. "I must say, I was quite proud of you."

The flushing sensation rose to her cheeks and her eyes widened. Hearing him say such a statement, having someone be proud of her, made her want to cry in a sense, but also smile at the same time. Before she could say anything, L said, "You're blushing again."

Instead of turning his face away from him and hiding the fact that yes, she was blushing, she held her gaze with him and scowled. "So what?" she said. "It's not often that I'm complimented by someone like you."

She knew that she had worded the sentence wrong when L cocked one eyebrow. "Someone like me?"

Amelia shrugged in an attempt to appear nonchalant. "A male, perchance."

The simplicity in which she uttered the line surprised even herself, even though she knew she was merely hiding her racing heart and hot humiliation. She saw L blink a few times, but his face remained calm for the most part. "Why is that?" he asked. Dammit, he was bringing that thumb to his lips again.

Amelia chuckled vaguely and stared down at her tea. "I don't know, L, maybe if I asked every male on the planet I would have an accurate answer to that." She took a shaky sip from the tea cup and glanced up at L while doing so.

"You have never had a significant other?" L asked, keeping his face at a perfect blank. His eye was half-concealed by a thick strand of his black hair, but he did not bother brushing it away. He rubbed his lip slowly, his eyes holding no readable or obvious emotion that Amelia could classify, but she was too preoccupied with his question to think upon what could be going through his head at the moment. She shook her head mutely and said, "No. Never before."

L's brow raised slightly and returned to its neutral state. "I find that surprising," he said.

"And just why is that?" Amelia said, trying to sound casual and at ease. It was already dreadful enough that she had blushed yet again, but she could not add to the situation by stuttering like a fool or saying something regrettable.

L stood up and began walking into the kitchen. "If I were the average single male with the opportunity to be with someone like you, I would take it," he responded in a steady tone, unphased by his own informality at his words. He opened the fridge and pulled out a container of strawberries that Watari had provided him with, placed it on the counter, and plucked one out.

Amelia was sure that she felt her heart stop. _W-what? What did he just say…?_ Her body froze and her mouth went slack, gaping open as if desperate for breath. She put her tea cup down with trembling fingers and stared at him from the couch. She was relieved that he was not looking at her, for it gave her time to collect herself and respond with heed. She forced out a laugh and said, "But you're far from the definition of 'average', L."

He looked at her now, and the surge of anxiety and shock hit her with full force again. she must have heard him wrong…surely he would not say something of that sort out loud for her ears to hear. "Yes, I suppose you're right. But needless to say, it strikes me as odd that you have never been with anyone before when I find some of your traits to be, frankly, very enviable."

He was saying these words so calmly that Amelia was sure that she was hearing him wrong. She strained herself to neutralize her expression and said, "Is that so? Like what?"

L did not hesitate like she had expected him to. "Do you need solid proof to know that I find you admirable, Amelia?" He was smiling innocently, throwing the green top of the strawberry into the trash can.

Amelia stood up as an acceptance to his challenge. She was determined to win against him in this as she put on an indomitable grin and crossed her arms. "Yes, I do. Because I'm having a difficult time believing you right now."

L smiled behind the strawberry that was at his lips and bit into it, chewed slowly, and swallowed. Amelia could not help but notice the red tint that the fruit had left on his lips. "Challenge accepted. You are intelligent, to say the least, and if you weren't I would not have allowed you to work on this case. You are passionate, judging by how you handled the meeting tonight with such enthusiasm, not to mention how you practically begged me to let you in the task force. You are attractive…" A slight pink flushed the man's normally alabaster cheeks and Amelia knew at once that she had won. "This is growing quite embarrassing, so I'm choosing to stop here."

Amelia, or at least the remains of her, stood in a crimson-blushing stance by the couch, her knees ready to give out from under her either from fatigue or something much different…she decided to blame it on the former as she cleared her throat to speak, her fingers finding her earlobe and twisting it dizzily. "Th-that's ok, I…I think I'm going to bed now anyway."

L nodded politely and popped the end of another strawberry into his mouth. "Do you need a cold compress for your face right now?" he said with an expression of the utmost virtue that Amelia knew at once that he was teasing her. She gawked at him in disbelief and made a groan of irritation. "No, I most definitely do not. Thank you for your kindness, L."

"Are you sure? It may soothe that burning fever of yours."

He was playing with her, knowing that he had the upper hand in the situation, and Amelia's recent victory quickly turned to a loss. "I am _positive,_" she said firmly. She gritted her teeth in defeat and began trudging off to the bedroom.

"Why are you so angry, Amelia?" L asked, a faint mocking tone lurking beneath his words. She could hear him trailing a feet feet behind her and she kept her back to him as she stomped away. "You compliment me one minute, and then you condescend me for my reaction to it the next! You taunting me relentlessly not only adds to my embarrassment, but it royally pisses me off as well!"

She spun around, her hair flying into her mouth. She impatiently wiped it out of her face and felt the molte crimson heat pool throughout her face and down her neck. L simply stood in front of her, his lips wrapped around the bottom of a plump red strawberry, his eyes blank and wide as he stared at her. Amelia tried to catch her breath from her outburst, but her freshly churned rage made it a difficult task to complete.

L slowly took the fruit out of his mouth and held it between his thumb and slender index finger. A thoughtful expression passed over his pale face before he said, "I only tease you when you are embarrassed because I find your blushing to be incredibly appealing, Amelia."

The room suddenly went silent as Amelia felt her trembling hands turn clammy. L looked up at the ceiling in deep wonder and stated, "I do not know how else to handle something that strikes me as attractive. So, I tease." He gently bit into the strawberry and continued to stare her down blandly, neither threatening or intimidating, but almost warm in a sense. Although his eyes were impassive, something in his face conveyed a tenderness that made Amelia feel flighty in her head and weak in her stature. There was a falling, frenzied vertigo coursing through her in spite of her feet remaining on the floor.

L finished his strawberry and scratched the back of his head rather roughly. "You should rest for tomorrow if you plan on showcasing yourself as well as you did tonight."

Amelia felt her heart return to its normal rate and she nodded. "I think I will. You should follow that advice as well." She managed to smile shakily and began walking into the bedroom, desperately wishing to lay down on the bed, turn off the lights, and just…think.

For it had been the first time in her life that someone had called her attractive.

* * *

In the midst of his research, L's concentration was broken when he heard heavy, quick footsteps pattering past him and into the bathroom.

He jerked his head up in alarm and turned around in his chair, only to see Amelia swiftly enter the bathroom, followed by the sound of a horrid wretching and the sink being turned on to cover the noise. _Her migraine…_he thought as he immediately realized why she was awake at five in the morning. He darted off the couch and to the open doorway of the bathroom, the light pooling out into the dark hallway. Amelia was slumped over the toilet, coughing violently with her back hunched over painfully, and L instinctively knelt down beside her and held her hair back out of her face so that she did not soil it with her vomiting. He winced at the sight of her fragile form lurching and sputtering, but he waited for her to finish with his head turned away to keep himself from growing nauseous.

She reached up to flush the toilet free of her sick, but L beat her to it. His fingers grazed hers at the action and must have taken her off guard, for she looked up at him with half-shut watery eyes. She wiped her nose on a piece of toilet paper and whimpered, "I'm sorry for this."

L shook his head slowly and released her hair from his grip, making sure to keep it off of her pale, sweating face. "Don't be," he said softly. He spotted a small towel on the counter and grabbed it, then held it under the water of the sink. He crouched back in front of her and placed the cool rag against her slick forehead while applying the back of his hand to her cheek gently. His thoughts were proven correct when he felt how her temperature had spiked.

Amelia slowly closed her eyes and relaxed her back against the wall. Her legs were sprawled out like a rag doll's, her trembling hands resting atop her knees. L wiped her face with the rag, moving it down her cheek and along her jawline. Only then did he notice that she was merely clad in a long T-shirt that reached her mid-thigh, but it was just enough exposure of skin to make L's hand falter as he held the cloth against her smooth skin.

"I want to go to bed," Amelia mumbled. "I feel…dizzy."

L nodded and took her cold hands in his as he helped her stand up. The girl wavered as her feet met the ground and she squinted her eyes shut, seemingly holding her breath. L tightened his grip on her hands to steady 

her and ignored the leaping sensation in his stomach that had appeared virtually out of nowhere. "Amelia?" he addressed.

Her eyelids hung low over her blue irises as she tried to open her eyes entirely. She swallowed hard and mumbled deliriously, "I need you to carry me."

He did not hesitate, for she looked as though she was about to faint judging by the swaying motions her willowy body was making as she stood in front of him. Kneeling down slightly, she put one arm around the small of her back and the other along the back of her thighs and lifted her off the ground, her legs hanging by his hips. He felt her face bury into his shirt and she mumbled something unintelligable, but he focused on keeping her secure in his arms as he carried her to the bed to rest.

L placed the shivering form of Amelia onto the bed after yanking back the sheets. She curled into a tight little ball and L felt a pang of sympathy towards her; he had never seen her so vulnerable. He pulled the covers over her and said, "Do you need any water or any-"

"Stay with me."

He thought he had heard wrong. He leaned in closer to her and cocked his head to the side slightly. "Pardon?"

One of Amelia's eyes peeked out from over her arm. "Stay with me," she said a level louder, but still mumbling in a weak, wan voice.

_So I did hear correctly, _he thought as he held his breath in a pleasant sort of shock. _She is quite delirious from her fever, though…_

He was silent as he carefully sat down on the bed with his back against the headboard and pulled his knees to his chest, resting his elbows on his knees. Turning his head to her, he saw that she was shivering horribly and sniffing. It did not take him more than one second to see that she was crying, and he rested his hand on her shoulder timidly. The physical contact made his stomach twist nervously, but he ignored it and focused on comforting her even in the most subtle way.

Amelia, trembling violently on the bed, inched closer to L's sitting form. They were silent, besides her sniffling and L's steady breathing, until the feverish girl whimpered, "Freezing." She reached out for something, her hand finding his other arm, and she weakly pulled it around her shivering shoulders. L's eyes widened in bewilderment at the sudden contact and felt her heated, sickly skin rub against his and she repositioned herself in his embrace. His heart was pounding in his ears; he had never done something like this before.

_She's delirious…she's delirious…she has a fever…nothing more. _

She was shaking in his arms, her fever-slick forehead pressed against his shirt, and he swallowed hard before adjusting the sheets around her and returning his arm behind her back and upon her shoulder with vigilance. His hand was barely touching her, yet Amelia's shivering eased as he held her and shared his body heat with her ailing state. He heard her mumble something under her breath in which sounded like a slurred "thank you", but his mind was in too much of a flurry to think too intently upon it.

There was a girl, no, a young woman in his arms, shivering, wanting his protection. Even though he had never been in a situation in which his solace had been pined for, he allowed Amelia to rest against him until she slowly relaxed. Her body was warm against his chest, his hips, and he felt his breath hitch when her foot brushed against his calf as she curled up and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

L stared into the darkness of the room, averted his gaze to the window, and finally rested on the sleeping girl in his arms. He had most certainly not expected the night to end in this manner…it had not been the first time that Amelia had thrown off his calculations before.

_She has a fever…she has a fever…nothing more…_

* * *

**Ahhh…my crush for L has increased a tenfold by writing this chapter. So cute. **

**Please review on your way out, dears! **


	10. Vulnerability

**Another chapter up, finally! And a rather angsty one, too…**

**The title for this chapter is quite obvious too…wink wink nudge nudge tickle.**

**By the way, guys…I freaking love writing Matsuda. He's so cuddly.**

**Anyway! Please enjoy this installment in Through Glass! Today is yet another day that I don't own Death Note!**

* * *

The memory of the previous night had not yet sunken in for Amelia when she awoke the next morning, but she knew that she had most likely done something quite foolish judging by the smile on her face.

It was perhaps the greatest rarity for her to greet the morning with a smile at all, for normally she groaned and cursed the sun for coming out and distracting her mind from the sleep that she adored so. But this morning in particular…she felt soft, warm, ambiguous.

She sat at the edge of the bed and combed her fingers through the tangled mass that was her hair. She remembered the bitter taste of vomit in her mouth and expeling it into the toilet; L holding back her hair…but the events that followed were a mere hazy blur. She stood up slowy, cautious to make any drastic movement on her weak, ailing legs and listened closely to voices that came from the living room of the hotel suite.

_So they've started without me, _she thought acrimoniously. _Well, I suppose I'll just have to make a late entrance._

She rummaged through her bag for a pair of sweatpants and pulled them on. Before she moved any farther, she noticed a small piece of paper resting on the nightstand. She picked it up and smirked at L's vigilant, light handwriting and began reading his note:

_"Amelia, I think it would be best for you to rest in bed today instead of putting your body under strenuous work. You proved yourself quite worthy to the task force last night, but your fever concerned me, dare I say it. Please do not be your usual stubborn self and push your weakened state even further today."_

She placed the paper back on the nightstand and twisted her lips into a defiant smile. She wanted to laugh at L's letter, for she could easily tell that he knew she would defy his advice and attend the meeting regardless of how sick she had been. She would be lying if she said that she had improved entirely back to her normal, healthy state, but she refused for him to keep her away from the task force even for one day. There was important information that she could be missing out on, interesting discussions that she would be missing, and she kept this in mind as she strolled into the living room clad in her less-than-flattering pajamas.

"Good morning, gentlemen. What have I missed?"

All of the men looked up, including L whom crouched in his armchair about to take a bite out of his strawberry cake. His eyelids fell halfway down in his eyes in an unimpressed fashion and he said dully, "I presume that you did not read my note."

"Oh, I did," she said simply. "But I deem this case to be far more important than a sheer fever, Ryuzaki." She took her seat on the empty chair across from L, battling his stare with one of her own.

"You were sick, Lise?" Matsuda questioned from the couch. "Are you feeling any bet-"

"Lise had a very high fever last night, and I advised her to rest for the day to make a swift recovery," L explained in a dry tone. "But it appears as though she has made a dramatic resurgence already."

Amelia was the only person in the room who could pick up his sarcastic style of phrasing his words, and she narrowed her eyes slightly at him with the corners of her mouth upturned into a challenging smile. He returned the smirk and it quickly vanished before a third party noticed the interaction between them.

_I saw that, L…_

* * *

"Lise!" a cheerful voice said when Amelia entered the kitchen to refill her coffee. She saw that it was Matsuda, much to her relief, and she grinned at him. "Matsuda!" she said, imitating his excited voice with gusto.

The young man laughed and gestured to her empty coffee cup. "Need more?"

"I can get it, but thanks. Why are you out here away from the others?" She leaned her back against the counter and watched him refill a mug with coffee.

A fleeting expression of guilt passed over Matsuda's eyes and his cheeks turned to a pale shade of pink. "I was annoying Aizawa with too many questions, so he said that I could make up for it by getting him another cup of coffee."

Amelia frowned slightly. "You shouldn't let him treat you like that, Matsuda," she said with sympathy. She had already realized that he was the black sheep of the task force, and it only made her feel a closer bond to him, for she had experienced being the outcast of a group all of her life. Of course, she was not quite as merry and childish as Matsuda, but she could nevertheless relate to him greatly.

Matsuda blushed and shrugged slightly, chuckling. "At least I get to work with you and Ryuzaki!" he boasted with a charming innocence. "Kira sure is going to have a hard time getting past us now!"

His optimism should have made her smile, but it sent a cold sensation through the pit of her stomach at the memory of the newspaper article she had seen her landlord reading. She plastered on a smile and nodded. "He sure is, Matsuda," she said, masking the pain in her stomach with the cheery tone in her voice.

* * *

The hours passed, and Amelia sat cross-legged on the floor slowly tending to the lollipop in her mouth next to L. As more videos of the FBI agents' death entered the room courtesy of the others, the two studied each and every movement of a man named Raye Penber.

It was a dark feeling consuming her as she followed the steps the man made on the video, knowing that his death was approaching quickly at the end of the tape. And the handsome Raye simply walked, unaware, keeping his mind on his tasks to be completed that day…it depressed her.

The other men had left the room to have a cigarette, refresh their coffee cups, or to simply stretch their legs after a long stretch of time of studying camera footage, which was why Amelia was taken off guard when Aizawa entered the room with another armload of tapes. "Damn, these things get heavy after awhile…" he muttered.

L glanced up at Aizawa blandly and gestured to the coffee table in front of him. "Yes, please set them there," he instructed, turning his gaze back to the screen.

Amelia scoffed at his lack of gratitude towards the man who had taken on the labor of lugging the tapes into the room, however cold as he was to her for simply being there. She looked up at the man and nodded out of respect. "Thank you for your help, Aizawa."

The appreciation in her voice made his eyes widen, his jaw go slack, and he cleared his throat. Nodding back at her, he unloaded his arms of the tapes and they settled on the coffee table in crooked, towering stacks.

Amelia watched as L picked up a sugar cube and delicately placed it upon his tongue. He closed his mouth and rolled the sugar around in his cheeks, making a soft sucking noise when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Raye Penber exited the train after an hour and a half and immediately collapsed from a heart attack," he said under his breath.

Amelia turned her attention back to the screen and focused on the camera footage. "We've already established that," she said as she chewed upon her bottom lip in concentration.

L glanced over at her for a moment, but turned back to the television. "Thinking aloud is a common method of piecing information together, Lise," he said wryly.

"I'm aware of that," Amelia responded with an equal irony. "I'm just trying to pull out new information instead of dwelling on the obvious."

L raised his brow quizzically. "Is that how you see it? Dwelling?"

Amelia sighed, knowing that her phrase had not come out the way she had intended. All she wanted to do was concentrate on what she had not observed on the tape yet, but she could never seem to find the right words whenever she was with him. "No, Ryuzaki, but your thinking aloud is distracting me. Why are we even still talking about this?"

She looked at his sharp profile and saw that he was sucking on a fresh sugar cube between his fingers with a soft smirk upon his lips. "You started the debate in the first place," he muttered.

Amelia's eyes widened at his comment and she clenched her fists in frustration. "Well, you were the one who felt the need to repeat the same thing over and over again while I was trying to concentrate."

"You sure have a quick temper, Lise," L responded with his usual air of clueless teasing. He looked at her out of the corner of one dark eye. "In fact, I don't remember you being this temperamental before."

He was sucking on that damn sugar cube between his lips, his long fingers holding it with such fragility as though it would shatter under his touch. The unintentional sensuality of the act was infuriating her, for she knew that it was the reason behind her strongly flustered state. She was used to his teasing by now, it was a part of their relationship, but not the arousing sight of his lips wrapping around the sugar so innocently and unknowing of the effect it had on her.

"Can we please just drop this?" she said. "My headache is returning."

Lie. She felt fine, besides slightly heated, but she knew that if their conversation continued she would do the unthinkable: blush.

L made an inquisitive sound in his throat and popped the remainder of the sugar cube into his mouth. "It must be the stress you're under right now," he remarked with a chaste thoughtfulness.

Amelia sharpened her gaze on the screen, although she was too distracted to pay attention to the task at hand. "I'm not stressed," she said offhandedly, flicking her hair out of her eyes.

"You're trembling."

"I'm _cold_."

"Has your fever returned? You could be undergoing chills."

Again with the mocking tone. Amelia squinted her eyes shut and inhaled deeply."We've already discussed how it pisses me off when you pull stunts like this," she said shakily.

Without missing a beat, L said, "And I have told you my reasons for doing so."

Amelia had not expected his comment, and the calm tone to his voice eased her anger slightly. _Damn, _she thought, _he got me there._ She hung her head low and let her hair pool over her face. "Which only makes me feel foolish. Now, can you please rewind the tape so that I can actually watch it?"

L pressed the rewind button and gave her a curious, dark look. "Foolish, you say."

"Yes, somewhat. You can stop the tape here, this is where I wanted it-"

"Do I embarrass you that much, Amelia?"

She was surprised enough by hearing her own name again, but his question in general made her stomach flip. She stared at him in a dull shock and shook her head slowly. "No, I just…"

"You're lying," L said gently. "You basically just told me that I do in fact embarrass you."

Amelia stood up abruptly, suddenly uncomfortable, before saying, "I need some more coffee." Without warning, her arm swung out and struck the tower of tapes upon the table. With a grimace, she watched them crash to the floor in a jumbled heap and scatter across the floor sloppily. Amelia crouched back down onto her knees to recollect the tapes, cursing under her breath. _Leave it to me to do something like this right now…_

"Here, let me help you," the deep voice of L spoke from in front of her on the floor.

She shook her head in protest and frantically began stacking the dozens of fallen videos onto the table. "I can handle it," she said stiffly. "You didn't knock them over, I did."

"Yes, but that's beside the point. Let me _help you._" L grabbed a tape and placed it on top of Amelia's forming stack. She looked up at him incredulously and took his tape off of the stack and placing it back on the floor. "I can handle it!" she repeated, growing embarrassed yet again. She felt so stupid and inferior whenever people helped her with her own fault's tasks.

L kept the same blank look on his face as he picked the tape back up and placed it on the stack yet again. "You really are impossibly stubborn at times."

Amelia flashed her eyes up at his and blurted, "Because you are, too!"

There was no sudden shift in the man's expression, but his mouth opened so subtly that it could hardly be considered a reaction. Those inquiring charcoal eyes stared into hers with a quiet intensity, his ghostly white complexion sharply contrasting with the evidence of fatigue that lurked under them. She did not realize how close his face was to hers until she felt his warm breath on her face when he spoke. "Yes, but you don't admire my stubborn side as much as I admire yours."

He was speaking so quietly that she was sure that the conversation was going to grow personal; that, or L wanted her to lean in closer to him…

She steadied herself in her kneeling position with her hand on the floor and locked her gaze onto his. "It's natural for me to not wish to appear weak when I'm embarrassed. There isn't room extra vulnerabiliy in this case…"

Her voice trailed off as L's expression hardened slightly, the tension in his jaw and his lips growing. His eyes remained their standard , burning blank. "It's too late to be worrying about your vulnerability. You even agreed with me when telling Matsuda of the dangers that we are all under."

Amelia sighed, knowing that once again her remark had not come out as planned. "I don't want to add any unnecessary weakness to the situation." She hesitated before continuing, "So, perhaps it does embarrass me when you bring that weakness out, however you do it."

A faint twitch of a smile came to L's lips. She narrowed her eyes as she studied his face, his lips…his eyes…

_Damn it, those eyes…stop it!_

"But I doubt that I have that same effect on you," she said quietly, innocently, switching the situation around. If L wanted to play this game of emotions with her, why not play back?

Then again, he was L.

He scratched the back of his head nonchalantly and said, "That's quite backwards thinking for you to use. How do you expect me to prove you wrong without submitting to the weakness that you fear?"

Something in Amelia's stomach flipped and fizzled as her heartbeat echoed in her ears. She had gotten an answer out of him…but not quite the one that she had expected…

_…Submitting to the weakness…_

He was just staring at her without a hint of remorse, as if he did not know what the word meant. Amelia swallowed hard while searching for appropriate words to respond with. "I don't expect you to prove it," she whispered hoarsely.

_W-what? Amelia, you dumbass…you never say anything right…_

"That may be true, but how do define 'proof'?" L responded, his voice barely audible due to its softness.

Amelia felt the falling sensation sweeping over her mind again. _What the fuck is happening to me? Stop this. STOP THIS. _

L's eyes remained glued onto hers, and Amelia vaguely wondered if he had blinked once since they began talking.

_I want…_

Her mind disconnected with her body and she focused on his eyes.

_I want to…_

Somewhere in the back of her head, something was screaming for her to back away and take a few deep breaths, release this tension in her heart without resorting to this…

_I want to kiss…_

She did not lean in any closer to him, but her eyelids grew heavier. She was not Amelia Lasswell any longer, but an embodiment of a yearning that had pounced upon her without warning.

_I want to kiss L._

At the thought, she was jerked out of her trance and simply stared at him, as if coming back up for air after nearly drowning. Her hands were trembling; she was confused at her own sudden inner outburst of emotion, in which had attacked her senses virtually out of nowhere. She had wanted to kiss L…no, she had _needed_ to kiss L. After twenty-two years of having never kissed any male on the planet, it had caught up to her.

Perhaps she was simply tired.

"The others are returning," L said, seemingly back to reality as well. Amelia nodded quickly and cleared her throat as she placed the stacks of tapes back on the coffee table as if nothing had happened.

_Shit, _she thought, _either that was a serious bout of hormones, or I've fallen._

To protect herself from any unreasonable jitters, she chose the former.

* * *

As the task force returned to the room and took their seats once more, L feverishly dug into the bowl of ice cream that Watari had brought to him.

What had happened?

He had not directly confessed anything to the auburn-haired girl that had been clouding his thoughts lately, but the manner in which she had gazed at him had made him wonder if he had spoken too much.

He spooned another mouthful of ice cream into his mouth and glanced over at the said girl. They had not spoken since the confusing incident, and they both seemed almost relieved that the task force had decided to return to the footage room at that time. Besides, perhaps now they could both concentrate on Raye Penber and not each others' definition of "proof".

Amelia sat on the floor, legs crossed tightly, fiddling with her earlobe. She had not looked at him since he had informed her of the men returning, and he had not provoked her to do so.

"Are we still looking at Raye Penber, Ryuzaki?" Ukita asked as he sat down next to Mogi.

L nodded mutely, his mouth full of strawberry ice cream and the spoon still in his mouth. He swallowed and dipped the spoon back into the bowl. "Yes, we want to take a closer look at him. Lise and I find him particularly interesting."

For some reason, he saw Amelia's shoulders bob with a quiet laugh, and he simply continued eating his ice cream and listened to the others sip from their coffee cups and chatter about something unimportant to him.

He kept his eyes on Amelia, whom was reaching up to press the play button on the VCR and start the video from where L had rewound it. A small portion of her back was exposed when the bottom of her shirt fluttered at the action. His eyes widened at the unexpected sight, and he shoveled another mouthful of ice cream into his mouth to distract himself and winced when the coldness hit his gums.

"While Penber was on the train, he accessed the file that Kira used to kill the FBI agents, correct?" Amelia asked. The tone in her voice had turned professional and stern once more, and she kept her back to him.

L smiled to himself and did not answer her. He wanted to see how much she could deduct without his help on this one…not as a method of teasing, but as a test on her own behalf as a newcoming detective.

He knew that she would not let him down…

Directly after the dark-haired man on the screen collapsed, both Amelia and L noticed the exact same thing. Amelia sat up straighter and leaned in closer to the screen, her eyes narrowed severely, while L loudly demanded for the tape to be rewound.

They had both seen it.

"Envelope? What are you talking about?" Aizawa asked, standing up and coming closer to the screen to see more clearly.

As the members of the task force watched the footage once more, Amelia looked over her shoulder at L from the floor while the others marveled at how Raye Penber had left the train without the envelope that he had had before boarding.

L stared back at her as the girl smiled softly, nodding her head once at him. He nodded in return, allowing his lips to crack into a quiet smile as well. While the task force crowded around the screen, they relished their brief moment of connection until Amelia slowly turned back around, earning a friendly pat on the back from Matsuda.

* * *

"Did you expect it?"

L glanced around his shoulder at Amelia as he stood in front of the window, his hands in his pockets. She was approaching him with a steaming mug in her hands, clad in an oversized white sweater and black shorts, her hair piled on top of her head in a tangled cluster of auburn. She took a seat upon the windowsill next to him and gazed out the window, a soft smile on her fair face.

"Expect what?" he asked, eyeing her with question.

Amelia's shoulders bounced lightly with a chuckle. "The outburst when you announced your plan. The surveillance cameras?" She brought the mug to her lips and took a sip from it. "The men looked as though they wanted to rip your head off."

"Perhaps they did," he said, "but it was a necessary move. That is, if we wish to narrow down any possible Kira suspects." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye as she stared out into the darkness, the dim light from the table lamp by the couch shining upon her profile. Other than when he had seen her sleeping, it was the most pristine he had seen her yet.

Amelia nodded. A loose strand of hair grazed her cheek at the motion and she swiped it away. "I know. I'm not particularly against it, I knew that it would be an effective next move." She let out a sleepy sigh. "I think it would be appropriate if I were to watch the footage of the women of the households, though. That was the only point that I was concerned about."

"Of course," L replied quietly as he steadily kept his eyes on the side of her face.

The two were silent for a stretch of time as they relished the peaceful quiet of the room after such a hectic day. L observed her in fascination as she bit her bottom lip and simply stared out the window as if she had never seen out of one before. There was still such an innocence that she possessed that both charmed him and confused him.

The fact that he was noticing her awkward sense of beauty at that moment made him only more interested in every upcoming movement the girl would make.

"L?" Amelia inquired softly.

"Yes?"

"Have you ever done something foolish, but felt no remorse for doing so?"

Her question was so out of the ordinary that his eyes widened slightly, but he thought upon it for a moment and looked back out the window. "I suppose the Kanto broadcast could be considered a risky move on my part, but I don't regret it, for it brought me one step closer to Kira. Why do you ask?"

He had an acute idea as to why she was asking. He knew perfectly well that she had wanted to kiss him during their brief moment of close contact, although he was clueless as to why she harbored such a desire towards him. He had seen her eyelids grow languid, her cheeks flush, her gaze go foggy, and all the while he had sat there in front of her with a tape in his hand wondering what the hell he was supposed to do. The event had sprung upon them at such a peculiar time that his mind had for once drawn a blank. He had never been intimate with anyone before; even a simple kiss was foreign nature.

For having one the most brilliant minds on the planet, he could not kiss her.

L heard her heave a gentle sigh and she shrugged. "I was just curious," she said. "Sometimes I confuse myself. Just forget that I asked."

She placed her feet back down on the ground and was beginning to walk away, but he stopped her, still facing out the window. "This has to do with our encounter, does it not?" he asked as-a-matter-of-factly.

He saw her stop walking in the reflection of the glass and he felt a gentle amusement in the fact that he had taken her off guard, but he chose not to taunt her for it at the moment. He simply stared at her reflection, a mere six feet away from him, and remembered her blushing face, her heavy eyelids, the questioning way in which she looked at him.

"Nothing gets past you. I hate that," she said. She turned around and slowly walked towards the kitchen, mug in hand, but L was not finished with her just yet.

"You claim that you don't feel remorse for your actions today, Amelia," he said, gazing at her through glass.

"Yes, that's why I just stated so," she responded.

L turned around to face her now, his hands remaining in his pockets, black hair falling over his eyes. He did not hesitate before saying, "Then why did you stop yourself?"

Amelia somehow managed to keep a neutral expression on her face, perhaps because she had prepared herself for his question, but there was still a subtle hint of her eyes going wider than before. There was a pause hovering in the air between them and they simply stared the other down, challenging to see who would falter first.

Neither were losing, yet neither were winning.

"Is that you admitting that you did not want me to stop myself, L?"

_Clever answer, Amelia,_ Lthought, _I'm quite pleased. _He watched her bring her mug to her lips and take a sip, keeping her eyes locked onto his. This newfound elegance in the manner in which she answered his questions…he was not sure whether to be proud of her or extremely frustrated.

"Is this you trying to get me to admit something that you inwardly wish to be true?" he asked with a smile. This could grow to be quite fun if they kept it up…

Amelia placed her free hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes. "Is this you being an arrogant ass?" she retorted.

He could sense the amusement in her voice and saw her lips threaten to give away a laugh as she suppressed it. He brought his slender thumb to his mouth and rested it upon his bottom lip, grinning while doing so. "I win."

Amelia tilted her head down suddenly, staring at him in shock. "What?"

"You cursed first, so I won," he said, clucking his tongue against the roof of his mouth sympathetically. "And you were doing so well, too…"

Amelia made a strangled sound in her throat and continued walking away again. "You could have at least specified the rules, if this was meant to be a contest," she said in a strained voice, in which sounded like a mix between fury and holding back hard laughter. She exited the living room of the hotel and disappeared into the kitchen. L stared at the space that she had occupied, still gliding his thumb across his lips distractedly, and turned back to the window.

_Little do you know, Amelia…you've already won. _

* * *

**Don't hate me too much for not having them kiss YET in this chapter…but I'm a tease. What can I say? **

**Reviews, pretty please with L on top? No one resist that yummy goodness.**


	11. Yielding

**Woot! This chapter is finally finished…after many sleepless nights of typing away and studying the third volume of the manga for the 1000th time.**

**Amelia undergoes an important transformation here...and there's a reason for this chapter's title. I hope you pick up on the clue…cheeky grin. **

**Phollie does not pwn Death Note, but can L still be mine anyway? Please?**

* * *

"W-well that's quite interesting," Amelia stuttered as she looked at the screen, in which showed Light Yagami flipping through a particularly off-color magazine. The girl printed on the glossy pages, with an expression of unabashed ecstasy and her hand residing beneath her panties, made her want to vomit…the idea of herself ever flaunting her body for complete strangers to ogle at was less than desirable in her mind.

"Embarrassed, Lise?" L asked her. He sat in the chair next to her in front of the TV, smirking behind his thumb on his lip.

Amelia began hastily unwrapping a lollipop as she forced her eyes to remain on the screen. She could not let something like a teenaged boy looking at pornographic images distract her, regardless of how much it made her wish to crawl out of her skin. "Not quite. Just somewhat surprised, that's all," she said, shrugging. "I was never a seventeen-year-old boy, Ryuzaki."

"I apologize for this, Lise," Soichiro Yagami said. His head was slightly bowed and he looked mortified, ashamed, even. He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "I didn't know that my son engaged in…activities, like this."

L took a sip from his tea, cringed disgustedly, and dropped three more sugar cubes into the cup. "Let's keep his age in mind, though. Light Yagami appears to be a normal, hormonal teenager…or at least that's what he's trying to show us."

Amelia raised her eyebrows and studied L's profile with interest. "He did go through quite a bit of trouble to make sure no one would enter his room," she remarked.

"I'm having a difficult time buying his act of 'I'm an average seventeen-year-old who goes through all these measures of security to ensure that no one finds these books of mine'." L looked at Amelia over the brim of his teacup. "Wouldn't you agree, Lise?"

Amelia brought her fingers to her earlobe and began teasing it as she thought upon Light's actions on camera. "Either he's a normal horny teenager, or he's realized that there are cameras in his room by now. He could be holding back from his 'normal' conduct so that we don't see it on film and suspect him even more," she explained. She looked over at Soichiro and saw that his face was contorted into one of distress. _I don't blame him, his son is suspected of being a mass murderer_, she thought. She timidly reached her hand out and rested it upon the older man's shoulder with sympathy. "Chief?"

He looked up at her, the muscles in his face tense. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement and said, "How much is my son thought of as a suspect?"

Before Amelia could answer him, L nonchalantly replied, "Not much. Two percent, at the most."

Although Soichiro's face seemed to relax a tenfold, Amelia's lips pursed into a tight little knot of disbelief. _You liar…we both know it's more than that…_

* * *

"He's been studying for hours…doesn't the kid ever get bored?" Amelia took a tired sip from her coffee and stared at the screen as Light Yagami sat at his desk slaving over schoolwork.

_You're one to talk, Amelia, _L thought with an amused smirk, _you used to be just like this; studying away until the sun came up. But it sure paid off…_

"Light's entrance exams are coming up," Soichiro announced. "He's very serious on getting positive marks."

"Well, he'll be quite prepared for when that time comes, judging on how much he's been studying lately," Amelia said, setting her cup back down on the coffee table. "Your son seems to be very focused on his education."

At these words, L caught Amelia glancing over at him in a curious manner. He caught on to the meaning of her glance and nodded. Something was not right in the young man's behavior…he was almost too perfect for their liking. There was a doubt lingering in the back of L's mind that Light Yagami was this golden son that was being expressed through the surveillance cameras, and Amelia seemed to be catching onto the theory as well.

_Now it's just a matter of finding decent proof…_

* * *

_Fuck._

Amelia paced back and forth in the footage room, wanting to pull her own hair out.

_Shit._

Criminals were still being killed…but Light Yagami had remained in his room studying like the good fucking son that he was. No, the good fucking son that he was trying to show them through the cameras.

_Fucking shit!_

She rubbed her temples furiously and groaned in frustration. _He's too damn perfect, from his actions to his hair. Something has to be going on in his head…I just know it. _

But he had not turned on the television once while he was studying…it was almost too picturesque for him not to do so. Upstairs in his spotless room, sitting at his desk over his books for hours on end, and for criminals to be dying nevertheless while not seeing the news once. Even the Kitamuras stood less of a chance of being Kira in her head, and they had watched the news that night!

The fact that Light stood out in her mind as a suspect immediately told her something…but she knew that it was useless if there was no solid proof. He had been in his room under the vigilant eye of L, Soichiro, and herself, and had not done anything outwardly suspicious the entire night.

_But perhaps he knows that there are cameras in his room. Any murder suspect under surveillance would hold back from their usual behavior…it's common knowledge. But how the hell is Kira even killing these criminals?!_

She flopped down on the chair and buried her face in her hands. The cameras were proving to be useless…it was apparent that Light was highly intelligent, and would not openly commit a crime in front of them if he was unaware of cameras catching his every move. _And Kira must be quite suave if he's gotten this far without being caught…fuck. I hate him._

"The others have left to sleep for the night."

Amelia jerked her head up at the voice and turned around in her chair. L slouched in the doorway, looking exhausted and…angry?

Amelia let out a harsh sigh. "Are you just as pissed off as I am right now? What the hell is going on?"

L walked into the room slowly and stared at the floor as if Kira himself were laying upon it. "Pissed off? Not exactly. Frustrated? Yes."

She wanted to laugh at hearing him curse, but her mind was in far too much of a fizzle to do so. She stood and resumed in her pacing in an attempt to expel the built up energy in her limbs. "Criminals are still dying, we're not getting anything out of the surveillance, and Light Yagami is grating at my fucking patience. He's too clean."

L began picking at his former piece of cake that had been sitting on the coffee table with his fork. "If my deduction is correct, the chance of Kira being one of the people that the FBI was investigating is very high," he said thoughtfully. "So the idea of Kira residing in the Kitamura or the Yagami households isn't too farfetched."

"I just don't get it," Amelia said between gritted teeth. "If Kira can kill people with a wink of their eye, don't you think that it would start to get to them after awhile? No one has made any sort of mistake or shown any form of emotional distress at all." She glared at the floor, clenching her fists. "Killing hundreds of criminals in some sick form of judgment, knocking off innocent FBI members for simply doing their jobs...and yet not one Kitamura of Yagami shows any sign of pain."

L hesitated before taking a bite out of the cake and chewed slowly. His mouth still full, he said, "Like you said, no mistakes were made. It doesn't automatically rule out Kira being one of them." He stared off into space, his eyelids drooping over his eyes sleepily. "It simply means that they are intelligent."

Amelia huffed out a frustrated breath and squinted her eyes shut to block out the ringing pain in her head. She was so tired, so incredibly tired…the day had taken its toll on her, but she knew that if L could resist the temptations of sleep in the name of the case, she could do it as well.

Or she could at least try…

L continued picking at the cake with a comical concentration and stared at the floor, his eyes narrowed in focus. "Light Yagami is taking his entrance exams very soon. That's…interesting."

Amelia crossed her arms tightly over her chest and frowned. "And he'll do quite well on them, I'm sure of it…"

The corners of L's lips curled slightly and he took another bite from the cake. "Of course he will, Amelia," he said, an edge of humor in his voice. "And if I'm not correct, you used to be just as serious on studying as he is."

Amelia shrugged, sitting back down on the armchair with a smirk. "Are you comparing me to Light Yagami, L? I may just have to steal your cake if that's what you were implying."

L smiled mischieviously and pointed at her with his fork. "Are you implying that you may in fact be Kira?"

Amelia nearly choked on her own breath and gaped at him. "A-are you serious?" she stuttered. Even hearing the name of Kira infuriated her, but being compared to the mass murderer simply made her want to vomit…

L's shoulders bobbed in a light chuckle, much to Amelia's relief. "No," he said, "you're far too impatient to be Kira, anyway." He held the plate of cake in his hand and the fork in the other, his eyes focused on hers intently.

_Again with the staring, _Amelia thought as she approached him with an evil leer stretched across her mouth. "Being impatient could just mean that I'm very motivated to reach a conclusion, L," she said with a casual air. She stood directly in front of him, arms crossed, willing to accept yet another one of his challenges.

She would win this one, she was confident.

L chewed his bite of cake slowly, swallowed, and said, "You do realize that impatience is considered to be a negative trait, Amelia?"

"Perhaps it can be taken as that. But if I'm not mistaken, one who is stubborn is normally not admired for their tenacity. Yet, you've proven me wrong on that, haven't you?"

When L's eyes widened in interest, she took it as her cue to continue. "You claim that me being stubborn is something that you find likeable in me. Does this also apply to my impatience, L?"

L seemed to think upon it for a moment before saying, "I find it difficult to find a trait of yours that I dislike."

"And in fact, many human traits that have been deemed abominable in the past have ultimately turned into ones that are agreeble in modern-"

The weight of his comment sunk in as she was speaking, and her words trailed off into the air. She hated it when he took her off guard, but hated herself more that she never seemed to be prepared for his forward comments. _No. NO. He will not distract me this time!_ Before she could think any longer, she said, "You're lying."

"No, actually," L said simply. The manner in which he was holding his plate of cake made him strongly resemble a child, but the rest of him…as much as Amelia wished she would not notice it, he was a man. The idea of the child L that she had known was forgotten as she stood before this tall, pale frame, the black eyes that had the ability to make her want to put a bag over her head so that she could hide from their gaze.

"In fact, infatuation is quite common amongst humans. I suppose I am able to yield to it as well." There was a slight confusion in his latter statement, as if he could not believe it, his eyes traveling up to the ceiling for answers, yet he remained completely calm. How could he keep his head on so tightly when admitting something as personal as…being infatuated with her?

He was…what? With…her?

_With…me?_

She cleared her throat and hastily brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Well, then. You'll be glad to know that I share your…yielding." She wished to kick herself at her word choice, but was too numb from her own statement to be ashamed of it.

_Shit…so much for trying to keep up some mystery, Amelia._

L's expression, for some inexplicable reason, was not altered as she spoke to him, and he simply took another bite from the cake on his plate. He stood there, chewing slowly and staring, chewing ever so slowly and staring, not saying a word. He must have been taken off guard when he noticed that Amelia's gaze was not faltering, for he asked, "Is something wrong?"

She had to smile, yet wanted to cry at the same time. This was _not_ how things were supposed to go…she was Amelia Lasswell, an amatuer at the most but longing to be more, and he was L, world famous detective whom had taken her in because of her own lack of money. She had vowed at the age of seven to never view him as anything more than an adversary…and yet there she was, freshly admitting that something in her stomach flipped every time he put her up to a test, a dispute, an argument. She lived for it, the debates and the oppositions and even the blissful moments in which she agreed with him entirely.

But…why?

Remembering that he had spoken to her, she shook her head. "Not quite…but…L…"

Still gazing at her with a naïve wonder, L nodded and began walking away, plate in one hand and placing his fork in his mouth.

She watched him leave the room quietly, leaving her standing by the armchair alone.

* * *

"So that's it, then? The cameras are being taken out?"

At Aizawa's question, L looked up and nodded sullenly. "Yes," he muttered. "No suspicious activity was recorded in either households; there's no further use for the cameras and bugs to be studied any longer."

Three days had passed, and after realizing that nothing was coming out of the footage, he and Amelia decided that it was useless…not to mention exceedingly wearisome knowing that criminals were dying nevertheless. If Kira in fact resided in the households under investigation, whoever it was would be far too cautious too commit his wrath on criminals if they suspected that they were being watched by sixty-plus cameras.

Surely Kira was not that dim.

_Damn you, Kira…how are you conducting these murders so secretly?..._

"And to think that we were getting closer to finding Kira," Matsuda said glumly, bowing his head in disappointment. "Only to end up with no suspects again."

L dropped two extra sugar cubes into his tea and stared off into space, keeping the face of Light Yagami fresh in his mind. _All that time and not one openly suspicious act…he had to have noticed at least one camera during the duration that they were in his room. If the FBI had been investigating the Yagami family before Kira got a hold of their names and faces…I'm having a difficult time accepting this as a coincedence. No…in fact, I won't accept it._

"This doesn't mean that we are back where we started, everyone," Amelia addressed, pulling L out of his thoughts. She sat in the armchair opposite of him, and was beginning to resemble his appearance due to the bags that were forming under her eyes from strenuous work and lack of sleep. Her hair was a disarray of frizzy flyaways and strayed free from the confinement of its ponytail, and she slouched in her chair with fatigue, yet somehow, she managed to contain the motivation that the task force needed after coming to terms that the cameras and bugs had not brought them any new evidence.

"If Kira was one of the Kitamuras or Yagamis, whoever it could be was merely acting upon caution," Amelia explained. "No suspect can automatically be ruled out already."

"So it was only a _partial_ waste of time," Aizawa muttered, cringing as he felt the thick stubble on his face with his fingertips.

"You may think that, Aizawa," L said monotonously, "but I see it as Kira simply not making any mindless mistakes in front of us. He must already be aware that many different forces are coming at him from all sides, so it's not too bizarre for him to be on the down low at the moment." He took a light sip of his tea and glanced up at Amelia. "Exactly as Lise just said."

The girl returned his look and hesitated before giving him a polite, platonic nod. In spite of the unexpected and slightly awkward confession that the two had made three days before, she had the skill of hiding any possible emotions when in the presence of the task force, just as he did as well. They had not spoken of the encounter since it had occurred…but it was not to say that it did not linger in the very corners of his mind.

But it was not the place to think upon their shared, gauche infatuation. It seemed as though Amelia also shared the ability to block any elusive thoughts that did not pertain to the case at hand the moment that she needed to. Their mutual passions for bringing Kira to justice told them that this was inappropriate, so very inappropriate…which also fueled their own frustrations and heightened their need to excel over the other.

Neither could blame the other. Besides, it took two people to have an infatuation.

* * *

She was not sure whether to be infuriated or not. Her emotions had once again betrayed her the moment that L opened his mouth that morning.

_"Light Yagami's entrance exams are today…and I will see him there."_

His words replayed over in her mind as she paced back and forth in the bedroom of the hotel, alone for once. L had left an hour ago, and the immense risk that he was taking by going through with his plan had been racking her brain the entire duration that he had been gone.

_"Care to explain why you think that's logical of you to do, considering that you are L and all…"_

_"If Light Yagami is in fact Kira, I'm curious to see exactly how he would react if he came face to face with L himself…"_

_"If Light Yagami is Kira, he will kill your ass. All he would need would be your name and you would be totaled!"_

Amelia clenched her fists and took a deep breath to settle her harsh pulse rate, but the truth of the matter was that she was losing control yet again. Why could she never remain calm whenever L was involved? Why did she always have to have an emotional collapse the moment he threw a risky plan of his at her?

_"And, pray tell, how would he learn of my name in the first place, Amelia? And try to calm down, you may burst a blood vessel at this rate…"_

She knew exactly why it bothered her so. The idea of L throwing himself into a situation that could ultimately end very badly made her head spin, for she knew that she would forever regret allowing him to put himself under danger. But he was L…a genius, a detective, a symbol of justice…surely he had thought upon the consequences of his actions far in advance, right?

_"I thought you were the one who said that you didn't want to put me under any uneccessary danger before I took on this case? Am I not allowed to feel the same for you?"_

_"I understand your concern, but-"_

_"Of course I'm concerned, L! You're basically walking up to a potential Kira and throwing yourself into fire…what if Light is Kira, like you said?"_

She knew that she had faltered there. Her weakness and paranoia had been tripled at that moment, and in a turn of events, she had forced herself to soften her tone and try to the best of her ability to accept his motive…to see Light Yagami at his entrance exams and ultimately reveal his face to a suspect.

_"He who strikes first wins, Amelia."_

The manner in which he had smiled while speaking those words had told her many things…he had planned out his every movement very accurately and was determined to trust it, being one of them.

Another being that her fear was irrational and uncouth, which had been the final move for her to nod sullenly and inwardly wish him luck.

The crude rays of sunlight crawled through the slats of the blinds on the windows, and Amelia lay upon the bed and curled up into her tight little ball of security again. She squinted her eyes shut and sighed, slowly and deeply from the root of her stomach. The hotel was quiet after such frequent discussion and stress…and for a brief moment, she felt as though she was in her old apartment once more, resting upon the flimsy flannel sheets and listening to the waking sounds of the city below her window.

No.

That was not what she wanted.

Caged within her apartment in Kanto had been the darkest days of her life…solitary and depressed, unemployed and penniless, desperate for what she had been dreaming of for so long, but never having the chance to do so…and she had finally found it. The broadcast, the phone call, the eviction…L.

She slowly opened her eyes and studied the slats of golden morning greeting the cold, barren hotel room, and she knew.

_If you're going to be a detective, Amelia…it's time that you start acting like one._

* * *

He was right there, in all of his "perfect son" glory.

L could see the teenager almost impeccably from his seat, and if he just craned his neck around the people in front of him, he was directly in his line of vision…

He had ignored the first warning for him to sit properly, for he knew that it was simply out of the question. Refusing to sacrifice forty percent of his reasoning skills to satisfy the plump man in a suit that had sent the order to him, he narrowed his eyes on Light Yagami's back in concentration and dangled the pencil between his thumb and pointer finger delicately. _If you happen to be Kira, Light…what a turn of events this will be for you._

"I said for you to sit properly! Must I force you to leave, sir?"

At the sound of the booming voice from the exam director, multiple pairs of eyes wandered to L with a scandalous interest, but he paid no mind to any of them. The fact was that Light was turning around in his chair to see him as well, completely unaware that he was being stalked, studied, analyzed from a distance.

A potential Kira suspect and the world's most renowned detective stared each other down in the middle of the exam room, and the fact that the brown-haired teenager was completely unaware that the man he had turned around to see was in fact deduced to be a possible serial killer was almost amusing.

But this was no laughing matter to him. The moment that Light Yagami turned around to see who the exam director had scolded, simply out of curiosity as everyone else in the room had…L knew that the real case had only begun.

_Hello, Light Yagami. _

* * *

**...which means Light will be making his overly dramatic entrance very soon! Hmm. Interested to see how I write a character that I don't like. **

**Next chapter will take some time…for it is SUPAH MONGO HUGE. I'm SO excited! Like the big nerd that I am.**

**Feedback and reviews make every day feel like Christmas to me. **


	12. Checkmate

**Sorry that it took so long for me to update! This was a difficult transition chapter…but I know exactly where I want the next one to go. And believe me, I'm uber excited about it.**

**But yes…it's second Kira time. Mwahaha. **

**I don't own Death Note…among many amazing things. Sad face.**

* * *

"Checkmate."

Amelia stared at the chess board in disbelief and back at L. This damn game was going to be the death of her, she just knew it. Taking on the challenge of trying to defeat L, especially at three in the morning, at something as trivial as chess was proving to be difficult…for neither she nor L had been stealing the win until he spoke. Focusing her gaze intently on him, she said, "Pardon?"

L, crouched atop the chair opposite of her, a satisfied smirk spread over his lips. "_Check _mate, Amelia. Do you disagree with that?" He popped a jelly bean into his mouth and crushed it between his front teeth.

Amelia pulled at her earlobe and narrowed her eyes at the chess board. "Shit, you're right. I check your damn mate."

L chuckled at her frustration and followed suit with his successful move. "You never had such a colorful variety of curse words when you were younger, do you remember?"

Amelia shrugged and felt her face flush slightly. "That was when life didn't frustrate me so much. Cursing just…I don't know, comes natural to me now." She gave him a rueful smile and cocked one eyebrow. "Is that shameful of me?"

"Not quite shameful," L said with consideration. "It just reminds me that you are twenty-two and not twelve." He gracefully took three more jelly beans, purple, yellow, and green, and flicked them into his mouth one by one. "Sometimes I…forget." He smirked and chewed the candy slowly in his mouth.

"Jerk," Amelia said with a laugh. "And you'll soon realize that many adults curse when they get frustrated." She stared at the board and contemplated her next move carefully, continuing to play with her earlobe.

"That may be true," L responded, "but I doubt that the average adult gets frustrated as often as you." He glanced up at her with a mischief in his eyes, and looked back down at the board in front of him with a soft smile upon his lips. Amelia allowed her eyes to wonder to his mouth, slightly upturned at the corners, soft and pale and-

_Shit! Stop it!_ she thought furiously, averting her eyes back to the chess pieces. _Hey, wait a minute…_

Like a hunter attacking its prey, she stood up out of her chair, picked up her chosen piece and grinned as she placed it upon the board. "Check. _Mate_," she said proudly as she sat back down, crossing her arms in victory. She scanned over L's baffled face, his eyes wide and flitting over the board to see if she was mistaken, mouth subtly agape. He slowly looked back up at her, closing his mouth abruptly and nodding his head once at her. "It appears as though you've defeated me," he said quietly, his voice slightly higher than usual.

"You're admitting this quite easily, L," Amelia said with an amused air, "I thought you would put up more of a fight."

L began biting his thumb nail and said, "What makes you think that, Amelia?"

She shrugged in response. "Because you would always do that when we were kids, that's why." She let out a laugh and saw a hint of a smile return to L's lips. Standing up, she leaned against the wall and grinned down on him in his chair. "I would react much more brashly than you, though."

L stood up as well and pushed his fists into his pockets, hunching his shoulders forward. "Which is why I suppose I'm lucky that you won, right?"

They shared a smile, Amelia's proud and liberal, his abashed and minute. She relished this quiet moment between them, away from the task force, and the fact that a smile could blind her from the stresses that had been overwhelming her made her only smile wider.

"I expect that you will never let me forget this, am I correct?" L said.

Amelia bit her bottom lip teasingly and said, "You couldn't be more correct, L."

* * *

There was no doubt in L's mind that Light Yagami was brilliant in the highest sense of the term.

In their corner of the café that they had migrated to on the To-Oh campus, the three pictures from Kira's suicide test victims fanned out across the table in front of the two polar opposite men, and as Light scanned them with a keen interest, L kept his expression neutral, black eyes wide yet quizzical. Truth of the matter was that he was curious as to how the suspect in which appeared like the ideal son would react to his approaching move…

"Your thoughts are quite impressive, Yagami-kun," the detective said earnestly, pulling out a small paper from his pocket, "but I'm afraid that you are incorrect on this theory."

Placing the fourth suicide note onto the table, he brought his thumb to his mouth and intently studied the boy's face. _Kira would automatically know that this fourth note is not legitimate, _he thought as his eyes took in every inch of Light's reaction, _so any sign of shock could be quite useful…then again, if Light Yagami is not Kira, then he should have no problem accepting this news._

He was quite pleased, in a sense, to see that Light's expression had altered to one of confusion, his russet eyes widening and his slender frame leaning forward in his chair, lips gaping open.

_Looks like you're a little surprised, Yagami-kun…_

Light cleared his throat abruptly and gestured to the faux suicide note with a flick of his hand. "But when considering my theory on the three notes, I was correct," he said with a subtle impatience in his voice.

"Mmm, no," L responded apathetically. "The fact is that while your deduction may have been feasible if the fourth note did not exist, you cannot be correct since it is sitting right in front of us."

Something flashed in Light's eyes, but it did not falter L's gaze upon him. Knowing that he had taken the boy off guard with the fake note had certainly raised his suspicions of him being the mass murderer known as Kira, but he still needed more…

Light noticeably relaxed in his stature and said, "You have a point. Jumping to conclusions isn't exactly a good way of analyzing things, right?" He released a good-natured laugh and rested his back against his chair.

It was a jester's laugh, a laugh that no one other than L could tell was one out of anxiety, even embarrassment at being caught in his own act. He saw directly through it, as if through a pane of glass that Light had thought to be metal. The brown-haired teenager in front of him was undoubtably very intelligent…it was evident in his speech, his reasoning skills, the way he conducted himself in public.

A perfect shell for the mastermind that was Kira.

The percentages rose as L listened to the suspect give his insights on Kira's mental process, or at least what he conjectured that it could be,

They conversed and reasoned for quite some time following the quiet debate of correct versus incorrect, but the two were suddenly interrupted when L realized that his phone was ringing. He sighed and excused himself as he retrieved it from within his pocket and held it away from his ear as if the device was infected. He looked away from Light Yagami as he heard the boy's phone ring as well, but his ear was quickly filled with a panicked voice.

_"Soichiro has…"_

* * *

_Soichiro Yagami has had a heart attack._

Amelia felt her breath catch in her throat as she reread L's message on the cell phone that Watari had given her weeks before. She sat down on the floor, her back resting against the bed, and muttered, "Shit…"

_Could it really have been…?_

She leaned her head back onto the mattress and closed her eyes, alternating between flipping her phone closed and reopening it to occupy her hands. _It wouldn't be impossible…if Kira wanted to get anyone out of the way, the head of the NPA would have been a useful move on his behalf…the bastard…_

Although she wished to respond to L's message asking how Light had reacted to the news, she decided against it when she remembered that the boy was probably with him at that moment. The risk of Light somehow seeing the message or realizing that someone was conversing with L while at the same time being a Kira suspect was far too fearful for her liking…

But Soichiro having a heart attack was too unexpected, too sudden, too concurrent for Amelia not to take it a step too seriously. Considering that the man was involved in a case that dealth with a murderer whose victims perished from heart attacks, and then suffering from one virtually out of nowhere…it was eerily correlated.

The fact that L had not written that Soichiro had _died_ from a heart attack told her that the man was most likely still alive, but she needed more closure than one message. She wanted to see L, to see Soichiro, to see _someone_ that would give her more solid proof that this was not an act of Kira, and instead a natural heart attack upon a man of older age.

Her phone suddenly vibrated and she flipped it open again to reveal a new message from L himself. Opening it with a timid finger, she was relieved to see that it had more sustenance than his previous one.

_"Yagami-san will remain in the hospital until he is in more of a stable condition, but he is alive. For now, we will conduct the task force meetings without him as he recovers. Please delete this message directly after reading it."_

Amelia released a sigh of liberation and followed L's instructions in deleting the message. She stood up and traveled to the kitchen in search of something to soothe her hungry stomach, since the stresses of the case had affected her appetite for the past week. Rummaging through the fridge, she settled on a fraction of a bar of cookie dough that Watari had provided her and L with. Grabbing a knife out of the drawer to cut the dough, her hand slipped clumsily and the knife slashed against her palm in a searing slice. "Fuck!" she shouted in anguish, feeling the warm blood pooling out of the wound. She placed the knife down on the counter with an angry enthusiasm and scurried to the sink to rinse off her hand.

She watched in an acute disgust as the blood from her hand assorted with the water from the sink and be swallowed by the drain hungrily. Wincing at the raw aching that the faucet water caused as it lapped against her cut, she turned her eyes away from the sight and thought upon more tranquil things to get her mind off of the pain.

She was disturbed that L's smile at her that morning over their chess game was the first thought to invade her vision. Over the past few days with platonic smiles and nods at the task force meetings and beyond them, she had found herself growing an obsession with the man's lips. Pale, appearing so soft and just out of reach for hers to touch…and the realization that she had allowed her mind to wonder to such lengths never failed to aggravate her.

The thought of kissing anyone, and Amelia's lack thereof, had never gotten in the way of her daily life ever since she had experienced puberty. It had crossed her mind briefly before, but it had never consumed her in such a sordid manner that she had been experiencing lately.

_You need to get some more sleep, stupid_, she thought as she turned the faucet off and tenderly dried her hand with a paper towel. She yelped when she touched the gashed area too deeply and withdrew the towel and disposed of it in the trash can. _Perhaps you never felt hormones when you were a teenager and they're just now hitting you. How pathetic…but you were always a little out of order, weren't you, Amelia-_

"Oh, you're in the kitchen, how new."

Amelia jerked her head around and the rest of her body followed in a delayed reaction, causing a sharp jolt of pain to shoot through the muscles of her neck. The willowy frame of L stood in the archway of the kitchen, an exhausted smile weak upon his lips and his eyes half-lidded.

_His lips…why does he have to smile right now…?_

"Jesus, L, you're like a damn ghost sometimes," Amelia said breathlessly. She held her bleeding hand in her other palm like an injured child and noticed a drop of liquid crimson falling to the counter.

L's eyes immediately flew to the gory state of the girl's hand and he quickly approached her in concern. "What did you do to yourself now?" he asked monotonously, grabbing paper towels from the roll and wettening the wad lightly under the faucet.

Amelia rolled her eyes, trying to conceal her own embarrassment, and said, "Cut my hand on the knife by accident. It was just a slip, nothing to freak out about." All the while that she was speaking, her slash pulsated and stung as the blood streamed in tributaries down her wrist and forearm. She averted her eyes from the sight to keep her footing steady…seeing her own blood as opposed to seeing someone else's always struck her harder, for she could feel it releasing from her veins, dripping down her own arm…

She hissed from the stinging pain as L placed the wet cloth against her shaking hand, trying to mop up the blood that tainted her entire hand in a heavy scarlet. "But it's normal for me to be slightly surprised when I come here to see your hand dripping with blood and a kitchen knife sitting right next to it, Amelia," he lectured in return.

Amelia nodded, too dizzy from the sight and smell of blood to oppose him, and cleared her throat. "Damn cookie dough," she muttered.

L glanced up at her in an amused wonder. "Pardon?"

She could have kicked herself for her juvenile phrase, but found herself laughing instead. "I was trying to cut some cookie dough because I barely ate anything all day, and this is how it turned out." A bitter chuckle rippled through her. "I never grew out of the clumsy phase."

One corner of L's mouth lifted into a smile and he applied pressure to the cut with the paper towels. "You wouldn't be Amelia if you hadn't," he responded, keeping his eyes on the first aid that he was providing her with.

She noticed that her hand was trembling with vigor by now and she emitted another hiss when L reapplied a fresh towel against her wound. Unwillingly, she uttered a wimper of pain at the feeling of the cold water slithering into the raw crevice. L glanced up at her again with a subtle frown and removed the blood-soiled paper towel before throwing it away into the trash bin. "Shall I wrap it up for you?" he asked innocently, gesturing to her sliced hand.

It did not take long for Amelia to burst into a fit of unstoppable laughter as her immature side consumed her common sense. She never failed to let her guttermind consume her at the most inappropriate of times, and the baffled expression on L's face only caused her to laugh more painfully and she doubled over to hide her cackling face from him, knowing how unattractive it must have looked.

"Well, then," L said, obviously not catching on the innuendo in his statement as Amelia had, "I'll go find the bandages…"

* * *

The few days that passed from Soichiro's heart attack held a strange occurance for Amelia.

It was the first time that she spoke to Ukita.

In the kitchen of their most recent hotel suite as she came to refill yet another cup of coffee, in which had been keeping her alive for the past few weeks, she saw the petite man puffing on a cigarette by the window. He appeared distracted, even distraught, and Amelia eyed with curiously as she set her mug under the coffee machine. "You really should try to cut back on that habit of yours, you know," she said.

Ukita looked over at her and his shoulders bobbed in a shrug. "I tried to a few years ago," he responed with indifference. "Never really worked for me."

"There are over 4,000 additive toxins in cigarettes," Amelia stated deliberately. "But I'm sure you're already aware of that by now." She began pouring the coffee into her mug and unlidded a small container of creamer, watching the smoking man from the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, well, it hasn't killed me yet," Ukita said. He took another long drag from his cigarette and exhaled the smoke slowly. "Besides, they help me relax, and that's sure as hell needed on a case like this."

_Good point, _she thought as she recalled how much stress had built up in her muscles lately. "Drink some tea. Go for a walk," she suggested, "anything from what you're doing now."

Ukita flicked the dangling ashes from the tip of his cigarette into the ashtray next to his elbow. "Kira is more dangerous than a smoking habit, Lise," he said with a bitter chuckle.

Amelia sighed at his words and poured the creamer into her coffee. "As you wish," she said softly. She turned around to face him as he leaned against the counter leisurely. "Just remember that you have lungs that are counting on you." She gave him a smile of satire towards his obduracy on the issue.

After taking another huff from the cigarette in his mouth, Ukita disposed of the ashes again and crushed the bud in the tray. "I'll remember that during my next smoke, ok?"

Pleased to know that she had annoyed him, she grinned to herself and exited the kitchen with her coffee in hand.

* * *

The moment that Watari's voice was heard by everyone in the room, Amelia knew that something was wrong.

L turned to look at the gray-haired man, his dark eyes wide and wondering. "Watari, what is it?"

A nervous mumbling was heard throughout the members of the task force and Amelia remained silent, a nervous fluttering in her stomach at the sudden appearance of the man. It was not like Watari to burst into a meeting if it was not important…

Watari flicked on the television with the remote on the coffee table and summarily flicked the channel to a news station that Amelia nearly scoffed at. _Sakura TV…a bunch of con artists in fancy suits…_

However, something about this broadcast seemed different than their usual acts of spurious publicity stints. The first thing that her eyes traveled to was the single word on the television screen behind the telecaster.

_Kira._

"A message from Kira? What the hell is this?" Aizawa questioned.

L immediately jerked his hand up to silence him as he leaned forward in his seat. Amelia, sitting on the floor next to him as usual, sat up on her knees and furrowed her brow, pondering what the channel had in store for them that Watari had deemed so urgent. Many a times had she seen tabloids exploiting the Kira case as if it were cheap candy to children…what made this so different?

Without thinking more upon the reason as to why Watari was showing the broadcast to them, Amelia narrowed her eyes and listened.

_"…an envelope containing four videotapes arrived at this station…"_

As the anchor continued to speak, Amelia clenched her fists in a boiling anger. The mentioning of Kira taking the lives of two more criminals at an exact time in an attempt to convince the station that Kira's powers were in fact real made her want to pull her hair out strand by strand.

_"…contains a message to people all over the world…"_

_How charitable of you, Kira, _Amelia thought furiously_, you must feel like you're doing us all a favor…_

_"…you are now going to see Kira's video…"_

Amelia glanced up at L as he crouched in his chair, clutching his calves tightly. His eyes remained blank and wide, shadowed by the darkness of the room contrasting sharply with the light from the television, but his lips were pursed together in a tight, thin line as he stared at the screen.

Amelia vaguely heard one of the task members say something, but her ears sharpened at the first three words that emitted from the video being broadcasted right in front of her. Her pulse raced within her body like a panicked train and she felt her patience reering off its tracks.

_"I am Kira."_

* * *

**Looks like some Kira drama is about to go down…**

**Gah…I promise that the next chapter will be longer…not to mention epic. Did anyone catch on to the innuendo in L's line either? Amelia is a pervert…but since I'm writing her, I suppose I am too. Ah, fun fun.**

**Reviews make my tummy fuzzy. **


	13. Requiem

**Sigh. And now a depressing scene…**

**I'll tell you, I basically watched Episode 8 of the anime thousands of times just to get this scene accurate…it was always one of my favorite scenes in Death Note. I wanted to make Amelia really stand out in it, too, while at the same time staying loyal to the scene. Needless to say, it was stressful lol.**

**I don't own Death Note…but my L plushie is good enough for me. **

* * *

For having the ability to murder and show a complete lack of remorse for it, the video that the acclaimed Kira had produced was possibly the most laughable attempt at technology that Amelia had seen in years.

_I would think that Kira would be able to make something more impressive than this shit…it looks like it was thrown together in five minutes at the most,_ she thought resentfully as she sat in front of the television. It was difficult for her to laugh at the poor excuse of a video, however, when she remembered that the lives of two criminals had been stolen at the promised time that Kira had forewarned. _Who else could possibly do that?..._

Which was why the moment that the televised Kira instructed for the audience to change the channel to a separate news feed, L immediately ordered Watari to follow through.

A repugnant wave of nausea overwhelmed Amelia's stomach and rose in her throat as she witnessed the dead body of the news anchor slumped over his desk, exactly as Kira had promised. The memory of Lind L. Tailor's death…the horrible gagging sounds that came from her television in her apartment…being reminded of such a disturbing event urged her to look away from the screen, but she refused. _This isn't time for you to falter now. You're a detective…fight through it…no matter how horrible it is…_

The sound of L demanding to return the screen to Sakura TV was slightly muffled in her ears as she leaned in closer to listen to what Kira would instruct next. When the murderer insisted that another kill would be made to prove his authority, she bit back a scream of outrage and clenched her eyes shut briefly to prepare herself for what she was about to see.

It did not help. A dead body was a dead body…a victim to Kira was the bottom of his shoe in his mind…nothing to pay too much attention to. Theorizing this only caused both the fury and queasiness to heighten considerably within her. "Shit," she muttered shakily under her breath, urging off the need to vomit with a firm swallow.

The voice of L, particularly the panic evident in it, snapped her out of her sickened trance. "Everyone, we must stop this broadcast immediately! Do whatever you can to get through to Sakura TV, now!"

Through the distorted rustling and shuffling of feet around her, Amelia glared at the television screen in which the dead newscaster still resided on. _Those newscasters…they weren't criminals…they were innocent people! Taken by the hand of Kira…no…something can't be right here…_

She felt two firm hands grab her shoulders and her vision of the television was obscured by the sturdy form of Aizawa. "Come on, Lise, what are you doing?" he asked in disbelief. His small, narrowed brown eyes stared into hers with an expression of anger, apathy, impatience. The panic in that cold face of his yanked Amelia out of her stupor and she jolted up onto her feet. "I'm moving, ok?" she snapped as the apprehension of the situation settled in her stomach uneasily. She shuffled past the man in a flurry of muddled thoughts and glanced over to L. The pale-skinned man was clutching his knees to his chest tighter than his usual fashion, and his endlessly dark eyes were locked onto the screen with an almost frightening intensity.

_L…_

Ukita, Aizawa, and Matsuda scurried off in different directions in the room to contact the station, and Amelia forced her gaze away from L and his completely still form as she stood by Matsuda at the phone. "Dammit," the young man muttered, dialing a different number. "The line is busy!"

"Try it again," Amelia said firmly, "Try any possible number that could get through to the station-"

"He never has his cell phone off, why now?!"

Amelia looked over her shoulder sharply at Aizawa, her hair fanning over her face. "What exactly are you yelling about, Aizawa?"

The man clutched his cell phone in his hand and squinted his eyes shut. "There's a guy I know that works at Sakura and his damn phone is off…there's got to be a way to get a hold of _someone_!"

Amelia bit her bottom lip and pulled her earlobe hard enough for it to begin to hurt. _Shit…this broadcast will only lead to more chaos if we don't stop it now…!_

"That was the last number to Sakura TV!" Matsuda announced with dread. "Every single line is busy!" He shakily placed the phone back down onto the receiver and placed his palms against his forehead in distress, his hands trembling.

Amelia averted her eyes from the panicked man and over to Ukita to see if he was involved in finding a free line. He caught her eye and gave her a look that could only be described as a wild desperation, his fists clenched tightly and his small chest heaving. "Then I'll just have to make them stop in person!"

Before he could dart too far out the door, Amelia leapt and tried to grab his arm to stop him, but he escaped her reach. "No!" she barked. "It's too dangerous, you need to stay here!"

"Ukita!" Matsuda yelped from the opposite side of the room, a fearful expression on his young face.

Aizawa dropped his phone to the floor as he tried to assist Amelia in holding him back, and came only a step closer than she did when he gripped his arm, but Ukita jerked out of his grasp and swung open the door. The petite man paid no regard to their vocal warnings and shouted, "There's no other way to make them stop! I'm going!"

Amelia watched in incredulity as he ran out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Without any further hesitation, she flung the door back open and burst into the hallway, seeing Ukita scampering to the stairwell at the end of the corridor. "Ukita!" she shrieked. When the man made no reply, she dashed down the hall, tripping over her own flailing feet, and finally caught up to him as she grabbed his shoulders. "What the hell are you thinking?!" she screamed, hair flying into her eyes and mouth.

Ukita struggled out of her clutch, but she kept a firm grip on him. "I have to stop that broadcast, Ryuzaki said it himself!"

"But he didn't tell you to throw yourself into the station! Use your goddamn head for once and think this through!"

The fury flashing through the man's eyes did not intimidate Amelia enough to release him, but her hands were trembling so violently from the dread of the situation that she dug her nails into his shoulders to ensure that her grip would not be threatened by her quaking.

Ukita abruptly raised his arms and shoved her vehemently away from him. She twisted her body in an attempt to grab him again, but the movement only caused her to slam into the wall on her back at an angle that shot an agonizing twinge in her spine. She glared at him through a curtain of her auburn hair and felt a stinging sensation in her neck at the cruel contact it had met with the barrier she had struck. Her breathing became labored as the fervent rage bubbled in her chest, heaving and building with an exponential potency. She squinted her eyes shut as the pain increased in her neck and back, but when she snapped her eyelids open, she saw that Ukita had returned to running to the stairs. She released a growl of frustration and flung herself to the other side of the hallway, gripping onto the railing that looked down on the stairwell. "Stop!" she bellowed. "Ukita!"

It was useless. She could grab his shoulders and shake him until his head collapsed off his neck, but she knew that the man was hell-bent on going to Sakura TV…it was only the possiblities of what could happen while he was there that sent the nausea coursing through her once more. She leaned over the railing, breathing heavily and biting her bottom lip in an attempt to control herself, and took a deep breath before limping down the hallway and back into the room. Her back was throbbing and she felt a light trickling of blood on her palm through her bandage. She did not bother to check the gash, in which had most likely been cut open once more due to the struggle with Ukita, and closed the door behind her as she returned to the room.

At the sound of her revisit, Aizawa looked over at her from his stance at the table. His palms were pressed to the surface and his tall frame bent over, a livid look in his eyes. "Well? Where is he?" he asked, his voice quivering and expectant.

Amelia looked away from him and leaned against the door, careful of her aching back. "I tried to stop him," she weakly explained. Her voice was hoarse from her duel with Ukita, and she felt as though the limited energy that she had had before had been ripped out of her through her pores. "I screamed at him, tried to make him stay," she continued, "but he just wouldn't listen."

"So you gave up, is that it? You just let him go?" His voice was rising, and it caught the attention of L, whose back stiffened up at the sound.

"Aizawa," Matsuda addressed quietly, seemingly trying to get him to back off, but Aizawa simply jerked a hand up to silence him. Matsuda shrunk back and stared at the floor, muttering something under his breath.

The wrath that had recoiled in Amelia before she entered the room resurfaced with dynamism. "I didn't see you flying out the door to stop him! What the hell did you expect me to do, take his gun and shoot him?!"

Aizawa's eyes widened at her outburst and he opened his mouth to say something, but Amelia reacted first. "Don't!" she shouted, shaking so vigorously that she was growing lightheaded. "I tried, and I obviously failed. I don't need any of your input reminding me of it, alright?" She turned around to face the wall and took another series of deep breaths to calm herself down, but the machine-enhanced voice of Kira from the television only heightened her restiveness.

"Lise-san."

Amelia looked over her shoulder at L, taken back by the honorific. Trying to steady her voice, she said, "Yes?"

"Please come here for a moment."

Amelia was perhaps the only one in the room that picked up on the very subtle tremor in his voice, but she obeyed and approached him slowly. Standing beside the chair he sat in, she wiped her palms off on her jeans and waited for him to speak.

He was so still, so somber, as compared to Amelia's own tension. He turned his head to her, but stared at the floor instead of into her eyes. "What exactly did you say to Ukita while trying to stop him?" he asked softly.

Amelia sighed and knelt down onto her knees next to the chair. She rested her head against the side of the arm and replied, "That you didn't tell him to throw himself into the station. I grabbed him by the shoulders and shouted…but it did nothing."

L frowned slightly and turned his eyes to her. The bags under his eyes seemed much heavier at that moment and his pale thumb met his lip, fingering its sulking outline. "I figured that it wouldn't," he responded.

Amelia ran her bandaged hand through her hair, temporarily forgetting that it was bleeding again. She quickly recoiled her hand and stared down on it, seeing the thin crimson tributaries branching down her wrist and forearm. L shifted in his chair and turned away from her, seemingly grabbing something from the coffee table next to the chair. He held out a handful of tissues to her, his face holding a tired concern, and Amelia accepted his offer. She wiped away the blood from her arm and turned her attention back to the screen of the television.

_"…a world protected by the police and myself…a world with no place for evil…"_

Amelia narrowed her eyes in disgust and scoffed. "As if Kira isn't a criminal himself," she mumbled. "I've never heard of a bigger hypocrite."

The tone of the broadcast suddenly shifted as a new voice came from the speakers. _"We are cancelling our scheduled program to broadcast live from in front of Sakura TV…"_

L leaned forward in his chair and Amelia stopped cleaning her wounded hand. _If they would interrupt a message from Kira_, she thought, _it can't be good news…_

Aizawa and Matsuda rushed over to the television and stood behind Amelia. "What's going on?" Matsuda asked.

The second that the image on the screen changed, Amelia knew.

_"…someone has collapsed in front of Sakura TV…"_

The lifeless, Kira-stricken body that lay in front of the glass door of the news station was no one else but Ukita.

She opened her mouth to scream, but all that escaped her mouth was a harsh breath of horror. Edging away from the television, all control of herself was scattered into the air as she released a sob of anguish, the hot tears colliding with each other as they streamed down her face. _I told him…I warned him…I tried to make him stay…but…why?..._

"Ukita!" Aizawa exclaimed as he made his way in front of Amelia and clutched the sides of the TV. He bowed his head and emitted a strangled sound from his throat. "Kira…that _fucker!"_

Through her blurry vision, she could see Aizawa bounding up and across the room with the purpose of leaving the room, but the voice of L stopped him short. "I suppose you wish to die as well, Aizawa?"

Amelia bit her bottom lip to try to sustain her sobbing, but she only succeeded in crying more violently as she clutched her hair with both hands. She had witnessed three people die in less than one hour…one being someone that she knew, that she had warned and tried to protect from leaving the hotel…and she had failed. If she could have just held him back more, dragged him back into the room…

"What the hell do you want me to do, Ryuzaki? That's my friend!"

The shouting from Aizawa brought Amelia to her senses momentarily and she jerked her head up at him, her cheeks soaked from tears. "Which is why you shouldn't want to meet the same fate as him! You just saw what happened!"

Aizawa did not look down on her, but merely continued glaring at L. "Someone needs to stop this video from being shown, isn't that what you said?"

Amelia looked over at L and saw his grip tighten on his knees. His head was bowed, hair obscuring his profile, breathing slightly harder than usual. "Yes, I did, but I never said that you should follow in he same footsteps as Ukita in which ultimately robbed him of his life. You need to be aware that Kira must be near Sakura TV…if you go as well, you'll only succeed in losing your life, too."

Aizawa suddenly grabbed L by his shouder roughly and jerked him back against the cushion of the chair. "Are you trying to tell me that I should just sit back and watch my friend lay dead on TV?! Kira needs to be arrested right _now_!"

_Get…your fucking hands…off of him!_ Amelia thought in rage as she saw L's knuckles go white from gripping his calves, his body trembling from the threat of Aizawa's grapple with his frail shoulder. "I can't let you leave and walk right into Kira's hands," he said quietly. "It looks as though Kira can kill with just a face now."

A cold stitch spasmed through Amelia's spine at L's last statement and she wiped her face dry of her tears, staring at Aizawa's hand tight on L's shoulder.

"We have already lost Ukita. If we lose you, or anyone else at that matter…"

The softness in L's voice must have gotten through to Aizawa, for Amelia saw that his clutch went loose and his hand fell down to his side. The man pursed his lips together and squinted his eyes shut as he walked to the other side of the room, his face crunching up in intolerable grief, leaving L in his chair gripping his calves for security.

Amelia turned her body to look at Aizawa, whom had sat down in the chair in the corner of the room and was burying his face in his hands. She stared at him in an utter disappointment of herself, repeating her quarrel with Ukita over in her head.

_"What the hell are you thinking?!"_

She closed her eyes tightly and stood up onto her feet, using the arm of the chair for support. The nausea was returning…

_"Use your goddamn head for once and think this through!"  
_

He had not thought it through at all, and if he had, it had proven to be the worst mistake of the late man's life. The man that had been carried on a gurney away from the station had been part of her team, her fellow associate on this damn Kira case...and the unsolved murderer had succeeded in knocking off a valuable member of the task force that she had worked so hard to be a part of.

And she would be damned if she let it happen again. She would find Kira herself and ensure that he would never see the light of day, either by being locked in a filthy cell for the rest of his life, or if she watched him be put to death by the justice system he mocked…

Her thoughts were cut short when the live image on the television changed to a massive van obliterating the glass entrance to Sakura TV. As Matsuda and Aizawa went into a fit around her, she sat back down onto the floor weakly and stared at the screen with shellshocked eyes. Pulling at her earlobe so roughly that she felt as though it would be ripped off, she muttered, "Oh, what the fuck…"

* * *

L was not oblivious to one's emotions enough not to notice that Amelia's mental state was far from stable when Soichiro Yagami returned to the hotel with all of Kira's video messages from Sakura TV. However, she had been the first to tend to him and his receding health the moment he walked through the door.

He watched from afar, holding the bag from Soichiro in his hand, as the auburn-haired girl wiped her own eyes before handing a glass of water to the older man, sitting him down on the couch. She took a seat beside him and stared at the floor, her eyes inflamed from tears. When Soichiro placed a paternal hand on her shoulder, she turned her head to him and nodded in gratitude, her lips faintly managing to smile. However, when Soichiro turned his head to speak to Matsuda, Amelia's gaze returned to the floor, any resuming suggestion of a smile erased from her face.

_It would be best not to bother her right now, _L thought as he delicately picked out one of the tapes from the bag between two slender fingers. _That is, unless she wishes to talk…_

Looking over his shoulder at Amelia, he was disturbed to see a solitary tear scope her cheek, and her furious hand crushing it upon her skin until dry.

* * *

As if the weather had predicted the tragic turn that the night had taken, the temperature had turned to a bitter chill, just over forty degrees.

Once the clock neared two in the morning, Amelia found herself sitting on the balcony just outside of the hotel suite, cradled in a thin blanket and a cold cup of coffee resting by her sock-clad feet. She was cold, no doubt, but the dejection had finally fully settled in the pit of her stomach as the image of Ukita's dead body lying in front of Sakura TV spun a crestfallen web in her brain.

It refused to leave her, and she was too weak to rid herself of it.

A light mist of rain fell over the sleeping city, but Amelia was protected by the crown of the roof that hung over the balcony. She would have been indifferent if the rain had reached her, though; all that she could feel was the grave feeling of failure.

Something inside of Amelia reminded her that it was not her fault, that she had held Ukita back and warned him until he was forced to throw her off of him.

But…

If she had just held on tighter…if she had just warned him a second longer…Ukita would possibly still be alive.

_Whether I tried to hold him back or not…I failed. I ultimately failed…_

"Ah, here you are."

She did not bother to turn around to see L standing by the door of the balcony, nor did she make any movement. However, she did manage to mutter a hoarse, "Yes."

The pattering sound of L's bare feet upon the cold cement terrace notified her that he was approaching her. With caution? She was unsure. All that she knew was that the sky was impossibly black, the air impossibly cold...and that the void of letdown was consuming her energy at a disquieting pace.

She felt his shoulder brush hers as he crouched beside her cross-legged form. Her face had grown numb from the extended exposure to the chill, but she welcomed it; any feeling that distracted her from the night was comforting to her, even if it was a frosty aching upon the sensitive skin of her nose.

"I realize that you came out here to be alone," L noted quietly, resting his palms on his folded knees. Amelia looked over at his pale profile and nodded at the obvious statement, choosing not to respond for her own sake.

L released a sigh and brought his thumb to his lips. "However," he continued, "it is not exactly easy to see you like this."

Amelia sniffed and flicked her hair out of her sore eyes. "Then why did you come out here to see me?" she asked weakly.

"Would you like me to leave?"

It was a gentle question, a sincere question, and the intimacy in his voice only made the warm flush of tears to return. She swallowed them back and hesitated before saying, "No." When her voice cracked, she squinted her eyes shut and cursed herself in frustration. She did not want L to leave, but if she was already to make a fool out of herself, perhaps it would be best…

All was silent, besides the soft feathery rain sprinkling on the crown of the roof above the detectives' heads and Amelia's unsteady breathing. She watched the fizzy rainfall darken the cement floor that was not shielded by the roof and wrapped her blanket tighter around her when she realized she was trembling from the cold. She wondered whether L was warm or not just before he spoke to her.

"This was in no way your fault, Amelia."

Amelia felt her face begin to crunch up at the threat of crying again, and she took a deep breath to steady her emotions from boiling over once more. "How can you say that, L?" she asked croakily, her vocal chords damaged from weeping as intensely as she had earlier. "If I had kept Ukita here instead of letting him get loose and go to Sakura…"  
"You may think that," he responded gently, "but Ukita's death was not because of a mistake on your part. The fact that you chased after him is more than enough to justify that."

"No," Amelia protested as the swelling of tears rose in her throat. "Whether it was my fault or not, Ukita is dead."

_Dead…a member of my team…why?!_

She fell apart once more without warning, the heaviness of emotional malfunction crashing in her heart and painful sobs racking her shoulders. Without thinking, she buried her face into L's warm shoulder, soaking the dilapidated cotton of his shirt with her tears. A hand rested on the top of her head timidly, and after a few awkward seconds, began stroking her hair with a quiet prudence. Amelia crunched her body up against his side and shook with her requiem for a lost task force member.

Before she knew it, L's arms were tenderly wrapped around her as she masked her face deeper into his shirt. As her sobs dissipated, she felt the softness of his touch, the careful manner in which he held her, and inhaled the familiar scent of L within the fibers of the cotton. Her shoulders jumped with quick gasps as she tried to regain her breath, occasionally slipping back into her crying state, and she began to relax into his arms. A dreadful fatigue was overriding her mind into a fog and she closed her eyes, now crushed against L's lean chest by her own will.

She could hear his heart beating.

_Life…L…what if it had been you?..._

Her eyes closed tighter at the thought and she found herself resting her palm against his collarbone in a childish calling for protection. Immature or not, she was neutralizing, her gasps from crying lessening and the flushing in her face returning to its normal pale.

Neither spoke for an extended period of time, and Amelia relished the silence of the night stretched out beneath the hotel.

His heart was beating against her ear, and she listened to it with a desperate concentration. It was her thumping, loyal clock, pulsating with the very oxygen needed to survive…this very life that she was pressed against and wrapped within.

And she would be damned if Kira stopped another clock before its proper time.

* * *

**So you know what that means…Light! Plus task force! Equals craziness!**

**And let's just say now…I'm looking forward to some Amelia and Light hullabaloo. Not to mention some Amelia and L **_**hullabaloo**_** of a different nature…whoopee.**

**Ahem…yes.**

**Anyway, please review and tell me what you think! This chapter took quite a bit of work!**


	14. Light

**:runs in, extremely out of breath:**

**And I'm still alive! This was perhaps the most difficult chapter on the face of the planet to write…but I'm very glad to say that Light freaking Yagami is FINALLY here. And he is a hell of a challenge to write…**

**Right about now is where some things will start twisting around slightly…but I will continue to stick to the timeline as close as possible. **

**Please enjoy this hellishly difficult installment of ****Through Glass****! I still don't own Death Note, m'friends!**

* * *

L had predicted that Amelia would sleep fitfully that night once they returned from the balcony, but she had managed to surprise him by staying in bed in her drowsy trance for two hours before alerting him with her voice.

"You're such a hypocrite."

L smiled softly as he looked up from his position on the floor in front of his laptop at the girl in the doorway. She was disheveled, to say the least, her hair consisting of a massive tangle with rivers of smaller tangles somewhere within, and her T-shirt was perhaps five sizes too large. Her arms hung limp at her sides, her weight shifted to one foot as she stared him down from a distance.

"And just why is that, Amelia? You've said this many times, but have failed to give me reasonable evidence," he said, trying to keep his mocking tone in check. He had heard her crying quietly through the door when she had gone to bed; the last thing that would be of assistance to her emotions would be to taunt her for expressing them.

Amelia wiped her face with her palm and cleared her throat. Approaching him, L noticed the flushed distension around her eyes, easily giving her away if she was trying to appear alleviated. She sat down across from him on the floor in the middle of the living room. "You told me that I should get some sleep, and I wake up to find you here," she explained in a hoarse voice. "If I'm not mistaken, you are also human and therefore require sleep."

L's shoulders bobbed in a light chuckle and he continued typing away. He vaguely noticed that he made twenty-three percent more typing errors now that she had entered the room, but he shrugged the thought off and focused on the keys beneath his fingertips instead of the awkwardly attractive girl in front of him. "But I don't become horribly cranky when I go without such, Amelia," he said with a smile.

Instead of a retort, Amelia responded with a huff of a laugh and said, "True." She lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling, causing the two to fall silent. The sound of L's fingers clacking atop the keyboard and the ticking of the clock on the wall resounded in his ears in a lulling rhythm.

_Clack clack clack, tick, clack clack clack, tick…_

He had been slightly drowsy before, but now he found that he desired no sleep now that the auburn-haired detective was laying on the floor across from him.

"Do you remember anything from the orphanage?"

Her rasping voice made him tip his head up from the screen of the laptop and look at her. Her hair was fanned across the floor and, for once, her face was fully shown without strands falling over her eyes or strands grazing her cheeks. She was curled onto her side, an arm draped across her waist, and her lethargic, swollen eyes looked into his with a mournful innocence that L had not been aware of before. For a brief moment, the girl laying on the floor was no longer Amelia, but a stranger who had seen more darkness out of life than she should have.

His mind focused back on her question and he gave a subtle nod. "Of course. Almost half of my life was spent there."

Amelia's lips twitched in an awkward smile and it disappeared quickly. "I really was an outcast, wasn't I?" There was a lampoon humor in her voice in spite of her serious face.

"I don't know why you would think that," L responded quietly, "you just weren't a carbon copy of an average child. None of us were."

Amelia smiled then, and it remained longer than temporarily. "I can't deny that," she said. Her cobalt eyes wondered up to the ceiling and L continued typing, faster than he had been before. He heard her release a soft sigh and she said, "I still don't know why they put me there."

L looked up swiftly and cocked his head in inquiry. "Are you doubting your own intelligence, Amelia?" he asked.

The girl shook her head, eyes still fixated on the ceiling. "No, I'm referring to my parents."

A cold wave of nostalgia trickled down L's spine at her statement. He had remembered her first arrival to the orphanage, clad in a rugged garb and a confused bewilderment on her face. The other children would not talk to her as Roger had held her tiny hand and led her inside, and L had stood in the hallway with his head peeping around the corner to get a view of Wammy's new guest.

"I always thought that they would come back to get me or something, as if they went on a vacation and couldn't take me with them," she explained. Her tone was casual, yet held a soft air of penitence that L could sense within her words. He watched as Amelia turned over onto her side and propped her head up with her hand. "But the strange thing, at least to me, is that as time went on I didn't really want to leave."

L simply stared at her, his fingers pausing in their rapid movement over the keyboard.

There was an intimate string of seconds in which their eyes locked, seeking out the others' with curiosity, neither making a move. The girl was unfaltering in her staring, as was L, but when he blinked he saw Amelia give him a jester's grin. "I win," she said softly.

"Pardon?" L furrowed his brow in confusion and began typing quicker than necessary, the built up adrenaline in his fingers being spent upon the keys of his laptop.

Amelia gently rested her head on the floor as her eyelids began to droop. "You blinked first."

After a few bemused seconds, L felt his lips curling into a smile, a charmed smile, and watched her eyes close entirely. The grin that remained on Amelia's face softened as her body relaxed on the floor, her hair still fanned across the carpet like a dark red mist. His eyes returned to his screen and the speed of his typing lessened as he felt his fingers growing drowsy from their labor.

When he glanced back at Amelia, she was sprawled across the carpet in an exhausted sleep.

* * *

_It had been a chilly February day when the snow fell upon the grass outside of the orphanage in a feathery white haze. _

_A nine-year-old L sat on the floor between the bookshelves of the library, his nose rooted in his favorite volume of Sherlock Holmes that was resting atop his knees. The other children had long ago scrambled outside in their thickest coats and warmest mittens to enjoy winter's frosty gift, but L had found it as a wasting of valuable time that could be spent warm within Wammy's walls, buried in books that did not judge or taunt…_

_Not like the small gaggle of children that were approaching his corner of the word._

_They stood above him, snickering at each other and nudging elbows into ribs, seemingly trying to convince one of them to speak to the black-haired boy that was crouching on the library floor like a scrawny insect._

_One of them decided that he would be the main antagonizer and crossed his chubby arms across his chest. "Hey, L, why are you so pale?"_

_It was a pointless question if L had ever heard one before. He impassively stared up at the boy in an acute wonder and listened as the other children around their leader stifled their giggles of delight into their palms. He began to look back to his book and block out their ignorance, but a sharp pain atop his head forced him to face them once more._

_One of them had seized him by the hair and was urging him to stand up, yet L's bottom remained firmly on the ground by his collection of books. His gaze resumed blank and endless, although the stinging in his scalp was increasing with every passing second that his bulky captor clutched his hair. _

_"So, L, are you gonna answer me?"_

_"Yeah!" one of the other children piped up behind him. _

_"Why are you so pale?"  
_

_"It's creepy!"_

_"You can see right through him!"_

_A chorus of childrens' laughter spiraled around a confused L, whom merely was dropped back onto the floor and staring up at the group in a perplexed frenzy of thought and concern and a potential pity. He longed to return to his book and be left alone, but since his antagonizers did not appear to be leaving any time soon until he explained his pale complexion to please them, he would have to tolerate their mockery until they became bored with him and joined the others outside…_

_"That's a stupid thing to pick on someone for."_

_The throng of children, including L, turned their attention onto the frail girl that stood by the massive bookshelf, holding a small stack of paperbacks in her arms. Her hair was an unusual shade between brown and red, and was struggling out of its ponytail in sloppy flyaways that grazed her cheeks._

_Readjusting her books into one arm, she reached up and tugged at her earlobe, staring the children with an intensity that did not fit a child of her fragile size. _

_"It's none of your business what we're doing!" one of the boys retorted, huffing an agitated breath. _

_The girl, not appearing to be any older than six, narrowed her eyes and placed her free fist on her hip. "It's none of your business how pale he is, either!"_

_As the boys that surrounded L murmured to one another irritably, L studied this strange girl with a stunned curiosity. She was so miniature, so breakable compared to the other girls of the orphanange, yet she stood in front of these children with a quiet fury in her eyes that contradicted her insubstantial appearance. _

_L had seen her before…she had arrived at Wammy's just a few months earlier in a jumbled heap of grimy clothes and a puzzled disposition toward the people around her. _

_If she had not fascinated him before, she had succeeded in doing so then. _

_The boys that had taken enjoyment out of taunting the black-haired boy on the floor released a collective huff and an awkward buzz filled the air above L's head. "Let's just go outside already," one of them said under his breath. _

_"Yeah, she's weirder than he is," another noted as he pulled his hat down tighter over his neatly trimmed brown hair. _

_One final snicker aimed in L's direction and the group shuffled away, leaving only L and the bizarre girl in the library. He watched as she sat down in front of him and leaned her back against the bookcase behind her. She sat cross-legged on the floor and opened up one of the books in her pile before glancing up at him, smiling sheepishly. "Don't worry," she said in a soft voice, "I'm pale, too."_

* * *

Amelia had been studying the videos sent by the alleged Kira for two full hours before she burst into the living room, tripping over her own feet and tumbling to the floor.

L jerked his head up from his laptop, having already examined the tapes while Amelia slept, but when he saw that she was looking up at him with an excited revelation in her eyes, he quickly relaxed once more. "I've always admired your grace, Amelia," he said dryly.

Amelia remained sprawled on the floor as she reached behind her for a small notepad, flipping through the pages with a frantic animation. "It's not the real Kira!" she said breathlessly. "I thought at first that it was a fake Kira that sent the tapes to stir up the public, but then I remembered that he had the ability to kill those newscasters during the broadcast! It all makes sense now!" She quickly crawled up and slapped the notepad with the back of her hand in amazement. "It's a second Kira, L! That has to be it, otherwise how else would they have been able to kill the newscasters?"

L gave her a cryptic smile and looked back to the screen of his laptop. _So we've come to the same conclusion_, he thought, _just like I predicted…_

"What makes you rule out the possibility of it being the genuine Kira?" he asked. If she had had the ability to reach L's conclusion without him telling her his thoughts on the tapes, he felt the need to test her further…she had not disappointed him once.

Amelia expeled a piece of stray hair with a puff of air from her mouth and flipped to the next page of her notepad. "Because the videos didn't match up to Kira's morals at all! The real Kira would never kill just to prove a point, especially after boasting about being the bearer of justice." She began pacing back and forth, using her hands as she spoke with enthusiasm. "When we consider Kira to have to be some sort of genius in order to kill from such a distance, he would have no reason to have to speak out to the public through those tapes! None of it would add up if we automatically say that this is the real Kira. It has to be a second!"

She stood in front of L, her arms outstretched in glory and breathing heavily, and L gazed at her with a subtle smile on his lips. He reached over to the bowl of strawberries on the coffee table and popped one into his mouth, nodding while doing so. "Well, Amelia, it appears as though we agree on this matter quite nicely."

He saw the girl's shoulders slump forward and the beaming smile fall off of her face quickly. "You mean, you already knew?" she asked, her voice giving her dissatisfaction away in a second.

"Mmm, yes," L said as he stood up and placed his hands in his pockets. "I wanted to see what conclusion you would come to and compare it to my own…but it looks like that won't be necessary now."

Amelia dropped her arms to her sides and sighed. "I hate it when you pull shit like this. You know that, right?"

L smiled and shrugged. "Don't be too displeased, Amelia. Please keep in mind that I'm very impressed that we agree on this so closely." He brought his thumb to his lip and braced himself for her reaction to his following statement. "But there is one specific person that I would like to have give me their standing on these videos."

Amelia crossed her arms and a knowing smile formed on her lips. "Light Yagami," she said without missing a beat.

L's eyes widened slightly at her sudden response, expecting her to be infuriated at what he was suggesting. He recalled her initial disbelief after he had told her about his plan with seeing Light at his entrance exams…why was she accepting this now?

Before he could respond, Amelia spoke once more. "Who would be better to examine these tapes than a possible Kira himself? If our theories are correct about a second Kira, he could easily confirm this with us." She played with the hem of her sweater with her fingertips and looked down at the floor. "Besides," she continued in a soft voice, "it's about time that I stopped being so afraid of taking risks."

* * *

Light Yagami was devastatingly handsome in person, and yet Amelia had to force herself to shake his hand when he arrived at the hotel.

He was made of everything crisp and conservative, the collar of his shirt perfectly folded over and the creases of his pants ironed solid. She had never seen someone appear so clean in her entire life, nor had anyone's hair seemed so flawless. She detested it, wanted to ruffle it up just to see if he was human or not, but she managed to look friendly as she accepted his outstretched hand. "Lise Murray, nice to meet you," she said, feeling a tinge of déjà vu at introducing herself once more.

The young man nodded out of respect and shook her hand with a well-practiced politeness that would make a mother swell with pride. "Light Yagami, and likewise."

Amelia held back a snort of sarcasm. _Huh, likewise my ass. What suspect would be happy to meet one of the people pursuing them?_

"Thank you very much for coming, Light-kun," L's voice came from a few feet away. Amelia turned to look at him and imagined the cogs rolling in his brain as he studied the russet-haired teenager in question. "Now," L continued, "shall we?"

Amelia followed Light as L led him to the television to examine the tapes, and she focused on the boy's hair to catch a single fault, a possible tangle lurking somewhere upon that head. She clenched her fists when she found none and bit back a sigh of frustration. Who could _possibly_ go an entire day without gaining one speck of dirt on their shirt or a stray lock of hair going in the wrong direction? Definitely not Amelia, she was certain of that.

Light sat down in the armchair in front of the screen and immediately fell silent as he began watching the video, and Amelia took her place in between L and Matsuda. "He's so young," Matsuda whispered to her. "What teenager would want to spend their time doing this instead of having real fun?"

Amelia pursed her lips and thought, _A teenager that would possibly be Kira, that's who._

"So what are your thoughts, Light-kun?"

Amelia knew that L's voice took Light by surprise, and she noticed a vague flash of annoyance pass over the immaculate boy's caramel eyes. She silently celebrated catching such a quick flit of emotion in him and listened sharply as he spoke.

"After seeing this, I'd have to say that Kira's powers have been passed along to another person. All in all, a second Kira is somewhere out there now," Light said smoothly, standing up and dusting any possible microbes off of his pants. "A much less intelligent Kira, at that, considering the quality of the footage."

Amelia narrowed her eyes subtly and felt a pang of her competitive nature drive through her. _Then again, Kira would know immediately that a second Kira would be present since they would not have been the one to send in the tapes…either way, looks like we think alike, Light._

"Yes, that's exactly what Lise-san and I theorized. Excellent thinking, Light-kun," L commented, his shoulder brushing against Amelia's lightly. She nudged back into him in recognition.

Amelia could have laughed when she saw Light's eyes narrow in agitation, but she remained solid as she observed him through a detective's eyes. "Ryuzaki," Light addressed, "are you trying to tell me that this was a test to see how I would react to the videos?"

_So defensive, Light, _Amelia thought, struggling to keep the grin from twitching at her lips.

"No, not quite," L explained calmly. "Considering that only Lise and I concluded this, it greatly helps to have someone else agree with our speculation, wouldn't you agree?"

Light's shoulders relaxed and he smiled. "Yes, of course," he said, all too effortlessly for Amelia's liking. _Dammit, just screw up already!_ She placed her hands behind her back to hide their clenching. _No…I need to remember that the real Kira would not be so careless as to make a mistake directly in front of the task force…even more importantly, in front of L and I. Since he's fully aware that he's a suspect by now, it's natural that he would be on the alert…dammit, I already don't like him…_

Realizing that she had been far too quiet, she decided to speak up. "So at the moment, our priority is to capture the second Kira, since your observations have strengthened Ryuzaki and I's theory." She lightly tapped her finger against L's back, letting him know that she was attentive to the situation at hand. They were a team within the task force, the two of them…at such a time, it was important to be aware of the other's actions to avoid any possible slipups, especially in the presence of a possible Kira.

"Exactly as Lise-san just said," L responded. He placed his hands in his pockets, leaving his pinky finger free, and with a subtle tap against her hip, Amelia knew that he had caught on to her signal. They were in sync with their thoughts, analyzing Light through the same eyes.

She told herself that it was an accident when she felt his fingertip graze her hip again just seconds later.

* * *

"I'll pretend that I don't find it ironic that you asked Light to write Kira's response message," Amelia spoke under her breath to L. The two stood by the window, their usual discussion spot, and she watched Light Yagami writing calmly from the armchair through cynical eyes.

L swallowed his bite of cake and set the plate down on the windowsill. "Like you said, who would be better to do it?"

"Good point," she agreed. She crossed her arms and huffed out a sigh. "I just don't like him."

"I figured no less," L said as his wide eyes stared off in the direction of Light. "I am quite curious to see how accurately my thoughts on this little test will come out, however."

Amelia raised her eyebrows and nodded with understanding. It would have been just as easy for L to construct a response to the second Kira's messages…but choosing Light to do so was the perfect opportunity to see Light's perfection get the best of him once placed in the shoes of Kira. "I suspect that he'll give a flawless performance," she said sarcastically.

One obscure smile from L cracked his pale face before he said, "Isn't that what we should be hoping for?"

* * *

"Well, Light, I have to say," Amelia said as she scanned through the boy's written script, "I'm quite disturbed."

She saw Light's eyebrow cock into an arch and he leaned back in his chair, one slender leg crossing over the other. "Disturbed?" he asked, his voice all too calm…perhaps even amused.

Amelia passed the script to L and locked eyes with the young man in front of her. "In a sense, yes," she continued, "You sure have a talent for stepping into others' shoes on command."

Light placed his hands behind his head, his calm stature beginning to grate away at Amelia's patience. He released a good-natured laugh and responded with, "I'm not sure if I should thank you or apologize."

Amelia shrugged nonchalantly. "No need to apologize. I'm just very…impressed, that you can write such a convincing message as Kira. I don't think I would have been able to execute it."

_Take these words however you wish, Light…if you're not Kira, then this little game should be no problem to you, right?..._

Light laughed again as Amelia stood by and observed him carefully. She was being mocked by this teenager, this perfectly proportioned face and seemingly plastic hair, and she resented the juvenile flourish of exasperation that rose in her throat at his tongue-in-cheek air.

However, she was fairly skilled in such an air as well.

"Maybe I did get a little too into it," Light noted with an innocent smile. Amelia fough the urge to roll her eyes in agitation and merely looked at him with as much steadiness as possibly. "You and Ryuzaki may edit it to however you wish," he said.

"Such as the line about me dying, perchance?" L spoke from behind Amelia. She turned around to see him holding the paper between two fingers, his black eyes peeping out from over the top.

Before Light could respond, Amelia said, "Once again, Light is very accurate in his writing through Kira's eyes." She turned her attention back to Light and fondled her earlobe thoughtfully. "If Kira would wish for any single person to be out of the picture, it would most certainly be L, wouldn't it?"

Although it was brief, Amelia was positive that she caught a fleeting expression of contempt pass over Light's face. Either that, or her own emotions were reflecting quite clearly though the glittering in his pupils…

"Anyway," L said, "let's consider it complete. Aizawa?" He delicately handed the paper to said man and Amelia averted her eyes from Light, giving him a forced nod of politeness in his direction before walking off. _Well, Light…you deserve a standing ovation for that one…_

* * *

**Whew.**

**By the way…there is no sexual tension between Amelia and Light. Lmao. Reading over this, I realized that it slightly came out as such when describing that he was very handsome, but Amelia basically can't stand him. Lucky that I can't, either!**

**Please review, feedback is greatly appreciated!**


	15. Chastity

**Chapter Fifteen is here at last! Very long chapter, too, so that brightens up my crappy day…**

**By the way, a warning…there shall be a lovely little LEMON waiting for you all in the next chapter...in the form of a dream! **

**By the way…happy belated birthday, L! My friend and I made you cupcakes filled with fangirl looooove. ::smile::**

**I still don't own Death Note. But if Ohba and Obata want to haggle anytime, I'm right here…**

* * *

The bath water had turned cold by the time Amelia was able to fully relax into the tub.

Three quarters of an hour had passed from when she first sank into the bubbly water, and although her hands had turned into wrinkly masses of creased flesh, the chilly temperature of the water both soothed her head and guided her into the deepest concentration that she had experienced in weeks.

_Light Yagami was able to write exactly what Kira would write in the situation of communicating with the second Kira…it was far too perfect not to be suspicious…_

She dipped her finger into the frothy surface of the water and observed the tiny bubble that rested on the tip of her finger.

_I'm having a hard time believing that any average teenager would willingly spend their time in a cluttered hotel with a handful of overstressed adults…then again, Light Yagami is not an average teenager…_

She hated him. She hated the way he would play the role as the good guy so convincingly that Amelia had to remind herself that he was a suspect in the case in order not to believe it.

_L and I are the only ones who are as suspicious of him as we should be…on the outside, Light is the devoted son to Soichiro Yagami and one good fucking son with an interest in the Kira case…while at the same time, being a liable suspect…_

Amelia watched as the bubble upon her fingertip silently popped into oblivion. She dipped her finger back into the bathwater to collect another, but paused in her movements when she suddenly came to a thought.

_If Light is Kira, he would be in the ultimate position to gain more information on the chase towards catching him…thus giving him a step ahead in stopping any action from being taken out..._

Squinting her eyes shut, she released a sigh and let her hand sink beneath the water weakly, resting on the textured floor of the tub. The water lapped at her bare chest and she shivered lightly from the cold.

The supposed virtue and high caliber that Light had exuded over the past two days had managed to put her into a slump of frustration that could not be softened. She glared up at the creamy white ceiling, imagining Light's youthful face painted across it for inspiration.

_He is fully aware that he is a suspect, and yet he takes on a role in this investigation as if he were just another task force member…surely he must be aware that this is all one endless test…but if he is Kira…_

Amelia stood up abruptly in the tub and pushed the knob to drain the bathwater, suddenly highly goaded. As she reached for her towel, she thought bitterly, _It's all one big fucking circle…if he's not Kira, he's now in the task force and that's that…if he is Kira, then we're in deep shit…_

Wrapping the plush white towel around her dripping form, she caught her reflection in the mirror. She narrowed her eyes and observed the light rings of fatigue that had formed beneath them. _Great, I'm starting to look like L now…_

She finished drying off and slowly opened the door of the bathroom. _Being the dumbass that I am, I'll have to scurry into the bedroom and grab my clothes, rub back here, and not be caught by L…yes, that would be highly embarrassing…_

She looked around the corner of the door, both ways, and hurriedly made her way into the bedroom to collect her clothing that she had forgotten to bring with her to her bath. Just before she reached the door, however, her towel slipped. She managed to catch it in time before it completely fell past her rear, but the cool draft of air told her that it was only a close call. Cursing under her breath, she quickly readjusted the towel, but suddenly froze when she heard a faint choking sound from a few feet away.

She whipped around to see L standing in the hallway, thumb against lips, gripping onto a small stack of papers in his other hand. The expression in his eyes could have been considered comical, had Amelia not been the most mortified she had ever been in her life. She gaped at him, clutching her towel tighter around her, and cleared her throat. "Well?" she asked hoarsely, turning her eyes away from his.

L's eyes remained alarmingly wide and he did not respond, but Amelia caught the quick glance downwards to his own abdomen after a few silent moments. A fleeting look of confusion passed over his face before he slowly looked back up at Amelia, whom stared at him with a blank shock.

L had seen her topless…and most likely much more that she had failed in concealing before rescuing her dignity with her towel. Any man would have reacted in the same manner…but…

It was _L._

When the black-haired man began to notice the exponential discomfort that lingered above their heads, he spoke up. "I apologize," he said with a disturbing level-headedness, in spite of his own embarrassing situation that Amelia had noticed in a heartbeat.

"Y-yes," Amelia stuttered while regaining her senses and clearing her throat. "This won't happen again."

"Right you are," L said, showing no form of faltering in his voice, although he was noticeably recoiling into a more severe hunch in his back. He turned his back to her, and Amelia seized the opportunity to fling open the door of the bedroom and slam it shut out of the adrenaline that had been coursing through her. She threw her back against the door and stared up at the ceiling, her lips curling into a smile of disbelief. Her shoulders bobbed in a silent laugh and she squinted her eyes shut, trying to recall the look of genuine shock that had been on L's face when she had looked up.

_The first guy to see me half-naked, and it had to be him…_

* * *

"The Second Kira left a diary? But…why?"

L turned his head to Matsuda and set his cup of coffee on the table in front of his usual armchair. "It's pointless to ask such questions when we have not even fully evaluated the diary yet, Matsuda," he said tiredly. He held the paper between two fingers and studied it with wide eyes, taking in each and every word as he expertly scanned the page.

_Nothing of legitimate evidence yet…but why would the second Kira have sent this if there was no purpose? Surely there must be some clue…something hidden somewhere in this page…_

"Man, this second Kira really gets on my nerves," Aizawa groaned from the couch, rubbing his temples with strain. "First the crappy videos, now some random diary?"

"We can't rule out anything that the second Kira sends us, Aizawa," Amelia noted firmly, even sharply. L quickly glanced up at her and saw that she was pacing in a slow line whilst tugging at her earlobe gently. "Even if this diary seems to be useless right now, perhaps there's something beneath the lines that we're not catching?"

Aizawa released an irritated sigh. "This would be so much easier if the second Kira just sent us a picture of himself, judging by how dimwitted he seems to be."

"Yes, but then it wouldn't be a case, now would it?" L mumbled. His eyes continued absorbing the words upon the paper, rolling them around, processing, churning them in his brain until a possible clue popped out of them…

L became aware of someone standing behind him, and he saw that Amelia was leaning forward over his shoulder, her hair brushing against his shirt. "May I help you, Lise-san?" he said softly, calmly, not giving away the fact that he shifted slightly in his seat at her sudden presence. She was very close…he could faintly smell the shampoo she had used in the shower that very morning.

"I'm simply reading the diary, Ryuzaki," she replied with a smooth indifference. "I was getting impatient waiting." She cleared her throat and rested her elbow on the edge of the armchair, her chin nearly grazing his shoulder from the action.

L nodded in understanding and opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes fell upon one particular line at the bottom of the page.

_"…confirmed our Shinigami at the Giants game at the Tokio Dome…"_

"Shinigami?" he muttered. He reread the line twice over and turned his head to look at Amelia from beside him. "Read the last line."

The girl furrowed her brow and obeyed, her attentive blue eyes flitting down to the bottom of the page. She spoke the line quietly to herself and looked back at L, whom was observing her in interest from such a close range. Her eyes widened, much like L's, and she nodded slowly. "Shinigami…I don't know much about them, but that line does seem significant," she said, her voice trailing off thoughtfully. She gently took the paper from L's fingertips and analyzed it, propping her chin up on the head of the armchair. "The lines that mention Aoyama and Shibuya also stand out to me. Perhaps the second Kira will make a move in those cities on those dates? The…let's see…22nd and 23rd."

L watched Amelia as the corners of her mouth curled into a satisfied smile, and she abruptly stood up straight and held the paper by her side. "Let's see what Light has to say about it, shall we?" she said, smirking back at L as she walked away.

* * *

"The second Kira is more of an idiot that I expected."

Amelia narrowed her eyes at Light's statement as she stood in front of him, studying his reactions to the diary. This cockiness, this blatant narcissistic air that the young man gave off echoed in Amelia's ears and scraped at the very patience that she was trying desperately to hold onto, and yet she successfully fought the urge to punch him square in the jaw in her frustration.

"I wouldn't say 'idiot', exactly," Amelia said dryly. "It's even a possibility that the second Kira may not be as much of an idiot as we think." She sat down on the couch and averted her eyes from Light's immaculate hair in order to keep her sanity intact. "Maybe the second Kira expects us to react in a certain way, but in fact will do something much different than we anticipated? He may be much more clever than we think by making such obvious moves."

Light's eyes widened in interest and he scanned over the diary once more. "I was thinking something along those lines, but now that you say that as well, it does seem like a more possible outcome."

Amelia clenched her fists by her sides, but tried her hardest to keep her face neutral. _Smartass, _she thought, _of course he would have considered that…possible outcome my ass. _She cleared her throat and felt her fingers twitch to tug at her earlobe, but she kept them tucked into her fist. Sighing, she leaned back into her chair and smiled. "Yes, or the second Kira could just be an idiot like you suggested. Either are probable."

She locked eyes with Light and he released his usual calm chuckle. "Yes, that could be it," he said, returning his gaze to the diary.

"So what's our plan of action now?" Matsuda chirped as he returned to the room with two cups of coffee in his hands. He handed one to Aizawa, whom merely nodded impatiently and accepted it. Amelia scowled slightly at his rudeness, but turned around to look at L.

The man was staring down at the floor, eyes wide and calculating, and he rolled his thumb along his bottom lip in concentration.

_His…lips…shit, cut it out, Amelia!..._

"Considering that the second Kira blatantly mentioned Aoyama and Shibuya, along with the 22nd and 23rd, it would be a good idea to-"

"Go to Aoyama and Shibuya on those days!" Matsuda piped excitedly.

"Will you shut it, Matsuda?" Aizawa barked.

Before Matsuda could look down at the floor in embarrassment, L said, "Actually, Matsuda is quite correct."

Amelia smiled at the beam of joy that flashed across Matsuda's boyish face, and he immediately straightened his posture and said, "Really? Thanks, Ryu-"

"Yes, well," L continued, talking over Matsuda's raving, "we will send out undercover officers to Aoyama on the 22nd and Shibuya on the 23rd, along with plant cameras around the town so that we do not miss any suspicious activity in those cities."

Soichiro shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. The man appeared tired, even sickly, but the motivation beneath his eyes told Amelia that he was not willing to take any longer of a break from the task force after his heart attack. "But what about the possiblity of the second Kira making a potentially dangerous move on those days? Wouldn't that threaten the lives of the officers that we send out?"

"Yeah, didn't we already figure out the second Kira only needs a face to kill, Ryuzaki?" Aizawa asked.

Amelia sighed and stood up out of her chair. "I'll do it," she said.

L looked up at her and cocked his head to the left, his hair fanning over one eye. "Yes, Lise-san?" he questioned.

"The second Kira may need only a face to kill, but the likelihood of him killing me is quite low, considering that I'm neither a criminal nor a uniformed police officer," she explained. She was surprised by her own audacity of the situation...she was aware that a face was all that was needed to make a victim in the second Kira's terms.

_But you said it yourself…it's time I stopped being afraid of risks…even if it means coming face to face with a potential second Kira…who knows where he'll be in those cities?_

"I volunteer as well, Ryuzaki," Light announced. "Lise and I are young, so we would look the least suspicious being seen together in the city." Amelia jerked her head around to look at him as she bit the inside of her cheek so harshly that it bled. _Dammit, now I'll have to be with him all day_, she thought with dread. She could barely tolerate his plasticity for an hour…now she would have to go out into the city with him?

She looked over to L in desperation, widening her eyes to push her point further. L was perfectly aware of her great disliking towards the teen, due to her own ranting and rambling that occurred outside of the task force meetings.

Light Yagami and Amelia Lasswell did not get along, but was she willing to make it clear to the rest of the task force? Not on her life.

_But what I would give to mess that boy's hair up just one time…_

"I'll go, too, Ryuzaki!" Matsuda exclaimed. "If we're looking for young people, I'll fit right in with Light and Lise, right?"

"What are you trying to say, Matsuda?" Aizawa growled in offense as he shot an agitated glance at the young man.

"Anyway, Matsuda shall go with Light-kun and Lise-san to the two cities mentioned in the diary," L explained, piling more sugar into his cold coffee. "Understood?"

Amelia suppressed a sigh of intense relief and she nodded in his direction. "Understood, Ryuzaki."

"Sure thing!" Matsuda said with enthusiasm. He looked over at Light and Amelia and beamed. "Looks like we get to have two days out in town, guys!"

"Matsuda, be serious about this! This is part of the investigation, not a vacation," Soichiro scolded. In spite of Matsuda's sulking and quiet apology for his outburst, Amelia was on the verge of leaping upon the man and hugging him as tightly as she could possibly muster.

_Matsuda, I owe you one for that…_

* * *

Night came, eyelids grew heavy.

A bowl of strawberries in his hands, L quietly walked into the living room in which the task force members, including Light, were beginning to doze off in. Matsuda, on the other hand, was fast asleep and curled up on the sofa, blissfully unaware that a groggy Aizawa was pushing his feet off of his lap as he tried to read over a handful of documents.

"It's past two in the morning," Amelia's voice said from behind. L turned to look over his shoulder at the detective that stood beneath the archway of the living room.

She was wearing pink, and for possibly the first time in her life. A pink knitted sweater, falling down one pale shoulder due to its large size, and white sweatpants, with her hair in loose waves down her shoulders. Her arms were crossed over her chest, as if embracing herself, and her fatigued eyes looked at him through drowsy eyelids.

L was a man. L understood the biology that existed within humans, and that he was not immune to sexual attraction…which was why it would have been a lie to say that the memory of Amelia's towel slipping past her breasts and hips had not come rushing back to his brain.

When he did not speak, Amelia cleared her throat and pulled her hair to drape over one shoulder. "I think the others would appreciate it if we called it a night," she said quietly.

L nodded and bit off a portion of the strawberry between his fingers. "Always the charitable one," he said with a soft smile.

To his surprise, she returned the smile almost sheepishly, averting her eyes to the floor as she said, "You could call it that, I suppose."

"You seem troubled."

She looked up at his statement, her eyes more awake now that she had been questioned. Shaking her head, she wrapped her arms around herself again and cleared her throat. "I'm quite fine, just slightly-"

"Ryuzaki, could we please go home? Damn Matsuda keeps trying to stretch out on the couch and it's driving me insane," Aizawa complained tiredly. "Besides, I'm pretty tired, too."

L switched his attention to the man addressing him and nodded quickly. "Yes, that will suffice. Thank you for your work tonight."

Aizawa let out a sigh of gratitude and he reached over to the sleeping Matsuda beside him, shaking him roughly to awaken him. "Hey, wake up, will you?"

"Thank you, Ryuzaki," Soichiro said as he stood up and cracked his neck, stiff from being still for so long. Light followed him, approaching L and Amelia casually. L briefly amused himself with an image of Amelia clenching her fists and gritting her teeth at the boy's presence, but looked at the Kira suspect calmly. "Ryuzaki," Light said, "I never got to fully thank you and Lise for allowing me to join this investigation. I'm very thankful for the opportunity."

L looked down in confusion when he saw that the teen had stretched out his hand to shake his, but he accepted it and shook it politely. "Yes, and Lise-san and I are glad to be working with you as well. Your intellect is appreciated in this case. Right, Lise-san?"

He turned around to look at Amelia, and she plastered on a strained smile and nodded once, her hair flying over her eyes at the movement. "Agreed!" she said, her voice slightly higher than normal.

Light gave the two one final smile before he left with his father, closing the door to the suite behind them. Aizawa stood up and made a grand stretch with his arms high above his head, groaning sleepily. He slung his jacket over his shoulder and glanced back at Matsuda, whom was still fast asleep on the couch, and looked at L with an annoyed look on his face. "He's lucky he doesn't have a wife that'll give him hell if he's home late," he said with a cynical edge to his voice.

"Having a family isn't something to complain about, Aizawa," Amelia remarked bitterly.

The brief look of surprise glanced over Aizawa's face, but he brushed it off quickly and walked past the two. "You think that now," he muttered, exiting the hotel suite with a huff.

Once the door was securely closed, L heard Amelia give a harsh sigh. "What's that man's deal anyway?"

L bit into another strawberry and chewed slowly, watching Amelia as she leaned against the wall and stared up at the ceiling, frowning softly. He swallowed the fruit and said, "Some people don't appreciate the things others wish to have."

Amelia nodded in agreement and ran her fingers through her hair, plucking a strawberry out of the bowl in L's hands. "It's frustrating, isn't it?" she muttered as she placed the fruit against her lips.

L's eyes trailed down to her mouth as she bit into the fruit, followed the movement of her jaw as she chewed, the soft welt in her throat when she swallowed. Her lips were stained with a lively red, glistening upon the surface and disappearing as she chastely licked her lips clean.

"L?"

"I would like to kiss you right now," he said without missing a beat.

It was as though he was reciting a badly written monologue, or reading out a textbook. He was staring directly at her, thumb wedged between his lips in thought, unabashed at his statement simply because he did not need to be. He had already admitted his infatuation to the girl that was currently gaping at him as though he had dropped dead to the floor, and voicing his longing to simply touch her lips with his own was not a shameful affirmation on his part.

Besides, he did not have any experience to speak of.

"I-is that so?" Amelia choked out through trembling lips, her voice merely above a whisper. She clutched at the bottom of her sweater and gazed up at him, suddenly digressing into a child in front of him.

L nodded calmly, shoving his hands in his pockets and keeping his eyes upon hers, even as hers were shifting downwards. "But if I am to do so, I need to be slightly closer to you, don't you agree?" he asked.

Amelia cleared her throat, her nerves evident, and nodded quickly. "That would be p-pertinent," she said hoarsely. She shuffled towards him, tugging at her sweater until was clean off of her shoulder, and she hastily pulled it back up to conceal the exposed skin.

She was close, but not close enough in L's terms. He leaned in to her, keeping his hands in his pockets, and surveyed her flushed face with absorption. "You're blushing profusely. Is this a problem for you?"

Amelia shook her head quickly. "N-no, not at all," she whispered, tilting her face upwards to his.

L stared at her, wide-eyed and marveling at the girl's crimson cheeks and fluttering eyelids. Inquisitively, sheepishly, he gently grazed the bridge of her nose with his fingertip, taking in the manner in which she shivered at the subtle touch. He cocked his head to the side slightly as he traced a callow path of curiosity down her cheek and lingered over her lips in wonder. She seemed to be dueling between gazing at him and closing her eyes, and he felt her pout her lips against the pad of his finger…so close…she was just so close…

A clamorous crash resounded from the opposite side of the room and the two were forcefully ripped from their trance. While Amelia whirled around to find the culprit of the unfortunate interruption, L stared at the wall that Amelia had once been leaning against in a dull disbelief.

"Matsuda! Christ, what did you hit?" Amelia asked in a shocked concern as she knelt down next to a fallen Matsuda, whom was sprawled upon the floor in a disarray of sleepy confusion.

"The coffee table…I think it broke my fall," he slurred, sitting up dizzily and rubbing his head. "I think I'll…get a cab home."

L took a deep breath to calm his flustered nerves and turned around, watching as Amelia helped the young officer up off of the floor and upon his feet. "I'm sorry, Ryuzaki and I must have forgotten that you were asleep," she said, catching eyes with L and quickly looking back at the man that she was helping. The blush loitered her cheeks in a pleasant scarlet and L was aware that her hands were trembling, but the exhausted Matsuda was delightfully oblivious to anything besides his own drowsiness.

Amelia led Matsuda out of the suite, advising him to follow suit with his plan in getting a cab, and closed the door quietly. She kept her back to L and ran her fingers through her hair. "I think I should be getting to bed," she said softly. She was trembling, it was apparent in the tense lilt in her words.

L looked down at the floor and analyzed the patterns lurking in the carpet. "If you wish," he responded. There would be no use in asking to kiss her at that moment…she was already far gone, standing away from him as if she was afraid to face him.

She was embarrassed. Embarrassed that she had almost, _almost_ been kissed by him. L was unsure of whether to be enchanted or humiliated like her.

He kept his eyes to the floor, but he heard her quick steps approaching him.

A warm breath on his skin. Soft lips brushing his cheek, lingering only for a brief second, but just long enough for him to feel the lovely sensation of her chaste touch.

He jerked his head up to see her, but she had already scurried off. Turning around, he saw her bustling to the bedroom and tugging at the bottom of her sweater. L felt a smile drift over his lips when the sleeve fell off her shoulder once more, but she made no effort to pull it back up as she closed the door to the bedroom behind her.

* * *

At exactly 3:27 A.M., Amelia Lasswell realized that she was furiously, unbelievably, in love.

A simple infatuation, a crush, at the most, had been demolished into oblivion the moment that L's cool, slender finger touched her lips.

Love.

Ardor.

Something that she swore would never interrupt her mind or encroach on her life. But, truth be told, it had, and she was not sure whether to be euphoric at the feeling or furious at herself for allowing it to happen.

It frightened her how much she had longed to kiss him, along with the mixture of relief and wrath she had felt when Matsuda had fallen off of the couch and stopped her from doing so. The look in his eyes…although curious as usual, no longer blank and endless.

She had been _so close._

_No…this can't happen…we're working together, for Christ's sake!_

But did she want the feeling to leave her?

_…No…I…want him to touch me again…_

Flopping down onto the bed in a defeated heap, she knew that it was useless. She was in love, in _fucking_ love, and with the very person that she never imagined to fall for. In fact, the very person that she had always longed to outshine ever since childhood…had now claimed the emotion that she thought she could deny for the rest of her life.

_So…where do I go from here?_

She looked out the window across from the bed and smiled at the memory of his fingertip grazing down her cheek and resting on her mouth.

_"I would like to kiss you right now."_

She stared out into the blackness of the outside world, sprinkled with the lights of nearby buildings, and vaguely wondered what his kiss would have felt like if it had not been for their disruption.

_Warm…awkward, timid perhaps? Soft?..._

There was a flurry of something within her, something frighteningly new, something unknown and foreign, confusing…

_And…fucking weird…_

Her eyes gazing out of the glass and into the dark sky that hung high over the city, she allowed herself to smile and release a sigh.

It was only another time that neither had won or lost, for what she had gained was both fascinating and horribly frustrating. She was enraged, incensed, _pissed off, _that she had submitted to the falling, falling sensation in the pit of her stomach and the flying, flying feeling in her head that had been crammed to the back of her mentality.

It was exactly 3:42 A.M. when Amelia Lasswell forced herself to sleep, her index finger tracing down the bridge of her nose and resting atop her lips.

* * *

**Please don't hate me. Too much. They can't kiss YET…but the clock is ticking for their big moment and it's coming soon, I promise you…**

**Misa will be making her screechy appearance very soon as well! And guess who's going to find her annoying as hell? You guessed it.**

**Review, please! It's GREATLY appreciated.**

**Until next time.**


	16. Promise

**Please forgive me for the long wait for this update…one of my best friends passed away in an automobile accident, and I've been more than a little out of it…but writing has helped me loads. Once again, sorry for the delay…life has been quite difficult lately since his death…**

**LEMON warning, in the form of a dream. Again, LEMON. Don't like reading sex, don't read!**

**But yes…this chapter is my longest one and the one that most certainly brought the most frustration! Hope you enjoy.**

**phollie. does not own Death Note.**

**

* * *

**

_She was not alone when she walked into her room. Something in the air, something in the way her senses sharpened, told her that she was being watched; stalked. _

_Amelia decided that it would be best not to move any further and squinted to see through the dangerous black that enveloped the bedroom. Holding her breath, she slowly moved her arm to turn on the light, but another hand beat her to it. Before she could scream, the light came on and she opened her eyes in a frenzied panic. _

_L stood in front of her, staring her down with an unreadable expression in his eyes. His hair hung low over one eye and his lips were pouted open, as if he was about to speak. His hand tightened over hers and pinned her arm against the wall. Amelia felt her pulse quicken and she swallowed hard. "L?" she said hoarsely. "What are you doing?"_

_For a moment, the only things that moved were L's eyes, scanning over her face and down her chest. Amelia felt her cheeks turn warm and she looked away from him, not wanting him to see her reaction. His thumb met her lips and grazed down her chin, her neck. Amelia felt her heartbeat accelerate to an uncomfortable pounding tempo and she bit her bottom lip to maintain her stature. L leaned in closer to her face, his hand that held hers moving along her arm, and whispered, "You like to dominate, don't you, Amelia?"_

_Amelia stared at his lips as he spoke. She was unsure of what to say back to him, for her mind was in a foggy oblivion at the touch of his hands. She cleared her throat nervously and whispered, "Wh-what?"_

_His hand had reached the side of her chest by now, and his fingers barely rested against her breast. His eyes met hers once more with a heated expression lurking beneath them. "You like to dominate, to control everything around you. I see it all the time, Amelia, it's a part of you." L's lips curled into a dark smile. "A part of you that I am sometimes very fond of."_

_The sound of his voice so close to her ear sent a fury of both arousal and alarm through her bloodstream. She wanted him to ravish her, yet wanted him to get the hell off of her. She was not sure which one she longed for the most, but the more words that L spoke, the more heated she became as she stared at his lips. She turned away, embarrassed at her own provocation, and tried to move away from him to regain her calm. He moved quicker than she did and pinned both arms above her head, trapping her in his grasp. The hungry look in his eyes fed her own desires, as twisted as she felt they were, and he leaned in to her ear. _

_"Now it's my turn, Amelia."_

_Before she could respond, his lips claimed hers in a kiss that she had never known in all her years. His warm, moist lips firm against her timid mouth paralyzed her. Her entire body went rigid, waiting for her lips to cooperate with what she had been longing for for so long, but the feeling was mind-numbing. L opened his mouth, but Amelia's was still awkwardly closed and pressed against his, and she felt his thumb move up to her lips and force them open for him. She obliged and was swept into L's lips until she felt her limbs turn soft and languid. He dominated the rhythm of the kiss, a slow, deep movement that Amelia had never experienced. His hands made their way to the back of her head, pulling her closer to him and gripping her hair with force, and she gave in to the succulent feeling of defeat. She emitted a soft moan into his mouth while concentrating on the sensation of his fingers on her scalp, deliciously tugging at her hair. _

_Without warning, his hot tongue intruded her mouth and found her own timid muscle. Amelia felt her fists clench in apprehension and awakening as his lips lured hers into cooperation. Hands made their way down her cheeks, her neck, and rested atop her breasts softly. She instinctively arched her chest to him, making her easier to touch, but L huffed out a defiant laugh through their kiss and whispered, "Someone seems quite eager for this."_

_All she could do was nod frantically and try to ignore the pulsating heat between her legs. He leaned in and grazed his lips against hers for a brief second, and Amelia whimpered at the lost contact when he pulled away. She stared at him through lethargic, drunken eyes, her mouth unable to form words and still warm from his kiss. He stared at her, a stranger, eyes narrowed and inky black hair fanning across powdery white skin. There was a famine, an intensity in the way he looked upon her, but before she could squirm he reached his hand up to stroke her lips with his thumb. Her eyelids fluttered shut, allowing him to slide the digit into her desperate mouth slowly. She sucked it with a hunger to taste any part of him, and as she opened her eyes she saw that he was giving her the dark smirk that she had grown so attached to. She could just lean in and…_

_His warm mouth met with her jaw, dragging the tip of his tongue along the skin until his lips met with her ear. "You've wanted this for quite some time, haven't you?" he whispered huskily, his thumb that she had been sucking grazing down her neck and pausing at the peak of her heaving chest. Amelia nodded with panic as she tried to reach his lips with hers again, turning her head to him. When L gently touched her cheek to look straight ahead, she whimpered in desperation at not being able to touch him._

_L's fingers began inching underneath Amelia's shirt, stroking the negelcted skin of her stomach and hips. She shivered, both aroused and frightened by his touch, and she opened her mouth to say something to cool her burning nerves, but immediately closed it when he whispered in her ear once more._

_"You've wanted me to touch you…to take you…"_

_Palms grazed up the eager waist of the girl pinned to the wall._

_"To feel me inside of you…to surrender to each and every push…"_

_The tips of his fingers assaulted the tender peaks of her breasts through the thin material of her bra. "L…" she moaned breathlessly, arching her chest into his hand. She pulled at the hem of her sweater nervously and felt his palms leave her chest and skim down her spine. She turned her eyes to his and whispered, "Why are you doing this?"_

_"Because I'm tired of being interrupted," he breathed out. He was toying with the clasp of her bra, his knee wedged between her thighs, and he leaned in to rest his lips upon her neck once more. _

_"B-but right now-"_

_"Do you not want this, Amelia?"_

_He was looking at her now, eyes glazed over with a heated yearning that Amelia had been longing to see for so long…she needed this…how long had she needed this?_

_Too long, she decided when she crushed her lips against his in a blind attempt at feeling him, having him, holding onto something that she had been denied of for her entire life. She gripped onto his shirt, ran her fingers over his chest, fumbled with the button of his jeans and tugged frantically at the zipper. Her hair was being pulled, her mouth being ravished, but she simply released a hungry moan and felt one of L's hands yanking down her sweatpants. L took advantage of the newly exposed skin and knelt down in front of her, running his lips along her thighs and hips. Amelia's chest heaved in a sharp gasp when she felt his teeth latch onto the side of her underwear and she looked down at him with a timid anticipation._

_He was staring up at her, a sinister glint in his eyes, and he gave her a teasing smirk as he cupped her eager core. "Oh, g-god," Amelia murmured, the heat pooling from beneath the confinement of her underwear. L chuckled at the sound and pulled down her panties with his teeth, allowing them to grace the floor. The sudden feeling of publicity with her most private area in front of this man, this L, caused a furious blush to drown her cheeks and she turned her head away from the sight, however arousing it was to see L slithering back up her thighs and abdomen, planting soft kisses along the skin as he did so._

_A soft stroke on her cheek caused her to look at him again through hazy, half-lidded eyes. Dammit, that smirk again…_

_A finger. Sliding through her intimacy, teasing her._

_"A-ah! W-what…what are you doing-"_

_L rubbed her in slow, tantalizing circles and Amelia blindly bucked her hips to his hand, chest heaving, hands on his shoulders in a death grip. She let out a sharp breath when she felt pressure against her untouched opening. "L…" she whispered._

_He was sliding his digit in gently, preparing her for something that she had never expected to experience. She arched her back, adjusting to the warm sensation of his finger entering her and his free ones encircling her fraught bud. When she gasped out a string of incoherent noises of pleasure, she clapsed her hand over her mouth to silence herself and save her from the embarrassment of submission. _

_L's lips met with her ear and he skimmed his teeth along the sensitive lobe. He pulled her hand away from her mouth and whispered, "Let me hear you, Amelia."_

_"N-no…ah! L!" She writhed in rapture when he pushed his entire finger up into her hot well, curling it slightly and brushing against an unexplored quarter of her femininity. L pulled the digit out halfway and filled her again, scraping his fingernail along the sensitive region that made her arch her back against the wall, biting her bottom lip in an attempt to keep her self-control in check._

_It was only another failed try at resisting him._

_She whimpered when he removed his finger from her slick heat, but watched him in awe as he hurriedly removed his already loosened jeans and kicked them to the floor. Amelia blushed at the sight of his erection through his boxers, tenting the thin fabric, and widened her eyes considerably when he began inching the boxers down his creamy thighs. Her breath hitched violently when she came into full view of his heated addition, entirely man and blood and arousal. His boxers disposed onto the floor in a careless heap, he turned his lust-glazed eyes to hers and captured her mouth in another desperate kiss, this time losing its carefully crafted patience and balance as his lips devoured hers feverishly. _

_Curious, Amelia reached out for him below his hips to the stiff appendage and shyly stroked her fingertips up its length. Her virginal touch caused L to groan into her mouth and he wrenched his lips away from hers. His hand clasped down on hers that lightly rubbed his arousal and guided it in a slow up and down fashion, eliciting soft moans from his lips. Amelia felt her face flame at the new experience taking in the manner that his lips parted and eyes closed in a shuddering pleasure. After a few more tentative strokes, L removed her sheepish hand from his length and gripped onto her bare hips for support. "Are you ready?" he whispered huskily, teasing her entrance as he adjusted himself between her thighs. _

_Amelia allowed him to pull her legs up off of the ground and she wrapped them around his lithe waist, her entire body trembling from the heat of both expectancy and trepidation. "D-do it," she whispered in response. "L…"_

_L's warm lips hovered over her own as he entered her in one fluid thrust. A quick burst of pain sprang through Amelia's pelvis, but her own sexual awakening betrayed her and she arched her back, clutching onto him tightly. "Hah!...ah…"_

_She tilted her head back, mouth open in both shock and pleasure, and felt him pull out and push back in with a teasing slowness, stretching her fallow inner walls with a delicious friction. A hand swept through her hair, tenderly brushing it off of her sweating forehead, and she heard L intake a gasp when he moved within her. He grabbed her hips swiftly and hiked her further up the wall, digging his nails into the soft flesh, and sank her trembling body down onto his erect length. A welcoming bout of arousal shot through Amelia's spine when she heard L hiss through his teeth when she rose and dropped once more. _

_When L tilted her hips at a new angle, thrusting once forcefully into her, she let out a gutteral mix between a scream and a moan at the painfully gratifying, molten delight that coursed through her fervent body when he brushed against _something_ within her. Something sensitive, something beautiful and pulsating and impatient. "P-please," she panted, "right there…"_

_L's hands left her hips and pulled her sweater off over her head, tousling her hair at the movement, and Amelia released her hold of him briefly to allow him to slide off her unhooked bra as he continued to slowly drive into her heaving body. Realizing that he was still too clothed, Amelia yanked the raven's shirt over his head as well and pulled him closer to her, marveling at the feeling of his skin upon hers. Hot, panting, sweating, gasping._

_Something was shattering within her, twisting and throbbing and melting back together, and with each powerful thrust of L's slender hips, she climbed closer and closer to something explosive and frighteningly new. _

_The head of his hot length nudged against the collection of nerves deep within her and Amelia gripped L's disheveled hair, letting out a strangled moan and shivering violently at the rush of moisture that pooled between her legs, where the two met as one. "H-harder," she ordered breathily._

_"Always so eager to dominate, aren't you?" L said, his voice faltering as he gave a particularly pleasurable thrust. "Ah…"_

_Amelia bucked her hips back onto his, the knot in her abdomen growing with an exponential speed, tightening and tightening until it was almost unbearable. A wave of frustration hit her and she cried out, "Harder, dammit!" _

_She moaned when L obeyed her frantic request and let him pin her arms up above her head in a sensual trap. He lifted her impossibly high upon the wall and let her sex-fueled body drop down onto his pelvis in an enticing abrasion of intimacy. Amelia's ears rang with a shaky moan from L's lips as he gripped her tighter and bit down onto her shoulder, filling her up impossibly and dragging himself out. _

_Close…_

_Something was happening…a tension was building so tightly within her that she was sure to burst…_

_So. Close._

_"A-ah…"_

_So incredibly…_close…

_"I-I'm gonna…"_

_Oh, god, how long had she been waiting, craving, longing, needing this? She was on the brink, on the edge of something disturbingly heavenly…she was almost there, with gasps and pants and shuddering moans, gripping him desperately to her, plunging her hips down onto his. More heaving, more winded breaths and crying out for the release that was teasing her relentlessly, but not enough…not enough…_

_His lips met with hers again, hot and frantic and needing, and she knew that it was her time. Arching her back and feeling him bite down hard on her shoulder, she knew that she was going to-_

* * *

_What._

_The._

_Fuck?_

It would have been too soon that Amelia would snap awake, wide-eyed and wheezing, and the reality of her situation slowly trickled down her spine as she shakily wiped her sweating forehead. She was in the hotel bed, not pinned against the wall in a sinful tangle of limbs. Her heart was pounding, but not from strenuous sexual activity. Every fiber within her body was hot, aching with something that scared a part of her, but not from the sensual, blinding heat of a _man._

Of _L._

"Christ," she muttered, pushing the covers off of her bare legs and cracking her stiff backwith a wince. She flexed her fingers as she became aware that every muscle was taut and creaking. When her digits were loosened to her satisfaction, she forced herself to stand and made her way out of the bedroom.

She caught sight of herself in the wall mirror by the door and cocked her head slightly to the right. Her fingers fluttered up to her earlobe and she vaguely wondered what she would look like, ensnared within his arms, arching up to meet his movements…her face contorted in a paralyzed passion and her lips forming his name.

Amelia's face flushed when she realized that it was highly doubtful to experience such a ridiculous levels of pleasure in the biological sense of sex. She knew that the low "art" form of pornography was elaborated to comical degrees, and was used only for when she desperately needed a good laugh.

But…just how embroidered had her dream been?

_Stop thinking about it, you pervert. _

She turned away from the mirror and trudged through the hallway, clumsily bumping into the wall when she briefly lost her balance. Just before she reached the kitchen, she lurched to a halt when she saw the crouched form of L on the couch of the living room typing away at his laptop.

_Oh, great, exactly what I need at a time like this…_

Amelia noticed that his fingers abruptly stopped typing and he looked over his shoulder at her. A very subtle smile tugged at the corners of his lips and he said, "You're up quite late. Do you need something?"

Amelia swallowed hard and forced a fleeting image of her dream out of her head as she gazed at him. "Just hungry," she said quickly. She decided that it would be best to keep her words at a minimum to save herself from speaking nonsense like she never failed to do when anxiety came into play. And in this case, it was coursing through her veins like a wild river.

The last time she had seen him, he had almost kissed her.

L removed his laptop from atop his knees and heaved a sigh when he stood up from the couch. "It appears as though I am as well," he said conversationally, pushing his fists into his pockets. Before they disappeared beneath the denim of his jeans, Amelia took quick notice of their length, their paleness.

_Just like in my damn dream…_

Clearing her throat, she cracked her knuckles and attempted a calm smile. "It'd be nice to get out of here for once for some real food, don't you agree?"

What a stupid statement. She could have kicked herself for how cheesy it came out, but she figured that if she were to embarrass herself in front of him with her customary awkwardness, it would be best to start quickly so as to not lead L to believe that she was not inwardly quaking and fighting for her own breath in his presence.

L looked up at the ceiling in thought and cocked his head. "Perhaps you're right," he said with a light shrug of his shoulders. Without warning, his lips curled into another smile and Amelia cursed herself for squirming at the sight. "I'll take note of that, Amelia."

_Don't smile at me like that…_

She watched him trek off to the kitchen, her eyes glued on the manner that his black hair kissed the back of his pale neck.

_Kiss…neck…_

When Amelia's stomach gave a violent growl, she forced her legs to move from their still position and followed L to the fridge. _If you plan on keeping your head in place for a little longer, _she thought, _it would be wise not to stare at his ass like this…_

"Did you have a nightmare?" L asked as he pulled out a large bowl of assorted fruits, looking at her with concern. "You appear shaken."

Amelia shook her head slowly, feeling her face flush. "N-not quite," she responded with a peculiar lilt in her voice. She plucked a piece of melon from the bowl in his hands and hurriedly placed it in her mouth.

"Or perhaps you are still uncomfortable from our incident earlier," L said, sounding as if he were surveying the weather or reading a shopping list. His wide eyes studied her with an innocent enthrallment that made Amelia wish to pull her hair out.

Swallowing the fruit harshly, Amelia rested her elbows on the counter and did her best to glare at him. "One can hardly call that an 'incident' when it was never fully acted upon," she stated. She was aware that any attempt to sound high and mighty under the circumstances was futile, but her stubborn nature forced her to at least convince herself to try. To _try_ to try.

L's smile had not yet dissipated from his pale lips, and it frustrated her as she took another piece of melon out of the bowl. He looked at her with a quite amusement, even enchantment. "Are you saying that you wish it _had_ been acted upon, Amelia? If so, that's quite…flattering." He said this with an acute thoughfulness, the very calculating fashion that drove Amelia up the wall endlessly.

Although as they stood in the kitchen right then, she surprised herself when she realized that she was enjoying it.

"I could ask you the same thing, L," she said with a cryptic smile. "Besides, you were the one who brought it to the surface."

"I was curious," L said calmly as he placed a cherry into his mouth. "And so were you."

Amelia hopped up to sit upon the counter and stared at him. He was only half-correct. Yes, she had been curious to see what a kiss would feel like, after going twenty-two years without ever having participated in one; but truth of the matter was that she had wanted to kiss L because it was L. Out of instict, she reached her fingers up to tease her earlobe and let a soft blush stain her cheeks, choosing not to respond.

"Although I doubt that you would let down your stubborn wall to make a first move, Amelia," L said, his words slurred through a strawberry in his mouth. He swallowed and looked up at the ceiling in wonder. "In fact, the probability of you doing so is only a tad over twelve percent."

"Screw your percentages," she muttered.

"Oh? And why so?"

Amelia released a sigh and beckoned for him to come to her so that she could grab a strawberry from the bowl cradled in his arms like an infant. He obliged and she selected a desired piece, then looked up into his eyes with defiance. "You're only saying that because you're more of the dominating nature. You wouldn't want someone else to make the first move because your pride refuses it."

_…You like to dominate, don't you, Amelia?..._

His head still cocked to the side, he placed his pointer finger against his lip and gently furrowed his brow in interest. "What makes you believe that?"

"Because we're both stubborn as asses, L," Amelia explained flatly. "We like to win, or else we wouldn't still be in a dead tie after ten years."

L smiled. "Right you are. But I would not consider either of us to be 'winning', as you call it, if one is kissed by the other first." He stared at her through charcoal eyes with a glint of incorruptibility that contrasted with Amelia's own guttered mind. She chose to blame it on the dream and the way that his lips wrapped around the cherry that was now against his mouth.

Either he was being so sarcastic that it was unreadable, or he was being blatantly honest. Amelia rolled her eyes, a cover-up for her own insecurity of the situation. The idea of her kissing him was out of the question…not because of her obstinacy, but because she was undeniably, ridiculously, witlessly _shy _when it came to things that most humans took part in; embracing, kissing, love, _sex._

It was not by choice, however.

She hopped off the counter and stood away from him, suddenly uncomfortable. She ruffled her fingers through her hair and turned her back to him, set on returning to bed and forgetting about the very almost-kiss and the corrupted dream that had ended just a second from a high note. "I'm just saying, it's quite crass of you to judge someone's standings on things that can't be predicted. And besides, how do you know that I'll-"

His fingers were on the nape of her neck.

Amelia felt her breath hitch in shock as L's fingertips wandered timidly to the side of her

neck, just below her earlobe that was between her own fingers at that moment. He gently touched her hand, his skin cool and soft upon hers. Amelia felt her pulse race and she began to close her eyes, but his touch left her after a mere six seconds.

_Not long enough…_

She did not turn to face him in fear of the vulnerability that would come with it, her nerves already sensitive due to his unexpected forage. Her fingers hovered just below her ear where his hand had once been. "W-what was that for?"

Calm and staid as ever, L softly responded, "It looks like your theory is correct, Amelia."

Amelia lowered her hand and wrapped her arms around her shoulders protectively. "Theory?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

There was a hesitation before L spoke, his voice just above a whisper. "Not everything can be predicted after all."

Amelia barely looked over her shoulder at him, but before she could get a glance of his hunched form, she cleared her throat and stalked off to the bedroom.

Her own theory had betrayed her pride, but she wanted more of it. She was just unsure of how far she would allow herself to crave it before she cracked.

* * *

The 22nd of May arrived, marking the day for Amelia to trek to Aoyama with Matsuda and, of course, Light, and she kept the boy's face in mind when she prepared her extra large cup of coffee that morning.

She would need it if she were to return to the hotel with her head still attached to her neck.

Matsuda sat at the kitchen table, his feet propped up on the surface as he cheerfully bit into a piece of toast. "I'm so excited about going into town today, aren't you?" he chirped. He looked down his shirt and realized that crumbs had spilled along the fabric and carelessly brushed them off.

Amelia leaned against the counter and took a welcoming sip of her coffee. She smiled when she saw the bright shine to Matsuda's eyes and briefly forgot that he was indeed older than her. "Sure," she lied with a smile. "Just remember that we're going for a reason, okay?" She felt inclined to keep her voice gentle towards him, as if speaking to a small child.

Matsuda nodded once, his dark hair flying in front of his face comically. "Got it!" he said, giving her a proud thumbs up. "But it sure will be a good change from being cooped up in here, right?"

Amelia set her mug onto the counter and hopped up to sit upon the surface. "I suppose you could say that," she said with a tired smile. "I haven't actually been out in town for quite some time."

Matsuda brushed off more fallen crumbs that scattered across his shirt and hopped up out of his chair. "What, does Ryuzaki not let you go out a lot? That must really get to you," he rambled, not pausing in between his words in the slightest. He wiped his crumb-covered hands on his thighs. "But I guess you can't, since you're a big name detective and all!"

Amelia stared at him as he grinned innocently at her, seemingly not aware of what he had said and the cold chill it had brought her. _Big name detective…dammit…_

Matsuda's eyes wondered to the entrance of the kitchen and a brief expression of panic passed over his face. He looked down at the floor and scuffed his feet along the floor. "Oh, um…"

Amelia furrowed her brow and turned her head to see what he was reacting to, and something in her stomach dropped. The lean figure of L stood under the archway, hands in pockets and pale face grave. He was looking at her with his customary indecipherable air, as if questioning why she was looking back at him. She squirmed in her seated position and cleared her throat. "Yes, Ryuzaki?" she asked.

He turned his eyes away from her and looked at Matsuda, whom was still staring at the floor in embarrassment. "Matsuda, I would like to speak with Lise-san alone for a moment," he said with a heavy undertone. Matsuda simply nodded quickly and left the kitchen, his humiliation obvious in the reddening of his face.

_Can't wait to see how awkward this will turn out, _Amelia thought as she poured another creamer into her coffee with a half-hearted energy.

She continued staring into her coffee until she heard L's footsteps approaching her. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she saw him peering at her incredulously, as if she were either the most disgusting object on the planet or the most beautiful. She squirmed in her seat again and uttered, "Yes?"

"Before I tell you exactly why I wished to speak with you," L began softly, "give me your hand."

Amelia cocked a singular auburn eyebrow, but obeyed and placed her hand upon his open one, palm up. "What's this about?" she inquired in confusion. She watched him lean in closer to her palm and study its surface, and she looked down at her hand to see what the problem seemed to be.

Ah, yes. Her accident with that damned knife.

"It seems to be healing quite nicely. I was concerned of infection," L said blandly. He turned his dark eyes up to hers again and held the gaze for a discomfiting period of time before gently releasing her hand and placing it back on her thigh. Amelia remained silent as she continued to stare at him, searching for some form of relief to the burning answer in her brain.

_When are you going to kiss me, dammit?_

"Anyway," L pursued, "I came here to remind you to be on alert around Light-kun today in Aoyama. Keeping in mind that he is still a suspect-"

"Yes, I know," Amelia said with haste. "I was planning on doing so."

L nodded once and placed his thumb against his bottom lip. "It appears as though we are on the same mental track," he noted with a faint, cryptic smile.

Amelia restrained the impatient grimace that tugged at her lips and turned her gaze away from him before thinking, _Obviously we're not, since you still haven't made another damn move yet…_

"Is everything alright?"

"Are you afraid of me?"

For the first time, L's face cracked its neutral and his eyes widened in perplexity. "Afraid? Not entirely…although your temper can be quite the frightening one."

Amelia gritted her teeth and felt a bubble of edginess rise beneath her skin. _Am I really going to have to do this myself? Honestly…_

Before L was able to pull back, Amelia grabbed his hand and guided his pale pointer finger to her lips. She did not give herself the time to doubt her action or to even blush at the contact; it was simply a raw, indirect question.

L, on the other hand, stared at her lips that he was now touching with a dull shock that Amelia thought would have left him with age. His eyes, perpetually alert and extensive, fluttered shut for the most brief of seconds, but he snapped himself back into his usual tenacity that he had so commonly shared with Amelia over their years spent.

Amelia was in limbo between grabbing him by the shoulders and forcing his lips upon hers, or apologizing for her brashness and returning to her coffee. She knew that it had been her that had prevented the two from making the contact that she was now growing desperate for, but at the most subtle touch of his lone finger against her lips, she knew that any prolonged waiting would be the death of her ever-wittling patience.

But if she were to kiss him now, it would be the death of everything else. The awakening that would come with it could possibly override the unsuitable side to a budding romance between associates, between two detectives thriving to catch Kira…

_Catching Kira…that is what I'm here for…then why…?_

At the same moment that Amelia came to this thought, it was apparent that L did as well, for his finger went slack against her mouth and Amelia simply allowed it to gently fall from her. There was a string of seconds in which neither moved or spoke, but L broke the tension when he timidly pulled her into his arms and embraced her close to his chest, her knees pressing into his thighs as she sat upon the counter. His nose brushed her cheek as he said softly, "Not now."

"I know," Amelia whispered into his shoulder. She was beginning to tremble at the warm contact, but L pulled back before she was able to fully savor it. She avoided his eyes as she grabbed her mug once more off the counter and took a clumsy sip, spilling some of the excess from the rim of the cup down her shirt. She ignored the burning and focused on the sensation that L's touch had left her. It had been by her own doing that he had touched her in the first place, but judging by the manner in which he had pulled her into him, he had somehow longed for the same relief that she did.

_Relief…not now…but when…?_

She looked up to see him, and saw that he was peering around the wall into the living room of the hotel suite. He turned back around to face her, a shaken expression on his normally blank face, and scratched the back of his head roughly. "Light-kun has arrived."

Amelia nodded quickly, turning her attention back to her coffee. _Just to top off a shitty day, Light…_

"Your transportation has been prepared in advance."

"Lovely," Amelia said hoarsely. She knew the two were speaking just to speak, to clear the air that had been shattered by their embrace, and knowing it merely frustrated her even more than the very tension rising for _any_ relief, anything at all to soothe this infuriating aspect of human biology that Amelia had always ignored.

This was more than love. This was a physical _need_ and craving that ripped at the very dignity and stature that Amelia had worked so hard to keep sturdy her entire life. This was a selfish want, yet a desire to relieve both she and L from what they had been left out on.

_Blame it on the dream…you're not here for this…you're here to bring Kira to justice, not satisfy some sick side of yourself from the guy you've known for years…_

But even as she told herself this, she realized that her knees were still shaking against the counter as L slinked out of the kitchen.

* * *

He had held her in his arms and made a promise.

_Not now…_

Had it been entirely right of him to do so? To tease both of them for another long day ahead with a clinch of his arms and a muttered phrase that he knew would most likely send her over the edge of her patience.

_Not now…_

_I know…_

L dropped four more sugar cubes into his tea and watched them dissolve into the bottom of the cup. The dark liquid swallowed the sweet additions hungrily, only to be sipped away by L the next second.

He burned his tongue, but did not flinch.

_Not now…_

_I know…_

Had it been selfish or selfless to tell her such a thing? To admit that yes, he most certainly was planning on testing the boundaries of human desires since it was apparent that both were experiencing them…

_No, testing is not the word for it…understanding, perchance?_

Yes, that was it. He wanted to _understand _the boundaries…those that he knew Amelia wished to explore...but with him? Such a feeling was…confusing, even baffling.

"Ryuzaki, we're leaving now."

L turned around in his armchair at the sound of Light Yagami's voice and nodded, his focus sharply returning at the sight of the young suspect. "Yes, you are permitted to leave."

Matsuda began speaking, but L blocked out the anxious chirping coming from the officer's mouth as he noticed Amelia standing behind Light, the hood of her sweatshirt drawn low over her forehead. Her shady blue eyes slowly rose from her gaze at the ground to L's face.

_Not now…_

_I know…_

* * *

Amelia had once been sure that there was nothing worse than going to an unfamiliar city when one was feeling under the weater, but that was only until she had been forced to do so with Light Yagami by her side.

Even with Matsuda with them, the outing was still unbearable as she strained to pull her agitation back by its leash whenever the immaculate Kira-contender would flick his hair out of his eyes or adjust the collar of his shirt to graze perfectly along his neck.

It was enough to make a woman crack.

"Good thing it's nice out today, I would have hated it to be raining while we're out," Light said from beside her as they strolled along with a group of teenaged strangers. While Amelia had to applaude him for plotting to make the three look as inconspicuous as possible with such company, she still had to clench her fists at his attempt to win her over in conversation.

"I agree," she said, forcing on a smile and shoving her arms into the front pocket of her sweatshirt.

"You should really take that hood off," he said with a chuckle. "You have very nice hair, you know."

Amelia whipped her head to look at him, but remembered to keep her face calm. "Is that so?" she responded. She felt her eyebrow twitch as she smiled up at him and realized that her fists were clenched so tightly that her knuckles stung. _Asshole, fucker, shithead, son-of-a-damn-bitch…_

Light's lips formed into a kind smile as he looked straight ahead of him, flicking his hair out of his eyes once more. "Yeah," he said, "I don't see redheads very often. It's a nice change."

"It's more brown than red, in fact," she said in an irritated attempt to keep her tone conversational instead of horribly annoyed like she truly was. She allowed her eyes to wander to a young couple holding hands as they passed by her, smiling and laughing about something that could only be shared between them.

_Not now…_

"I agree with Light, Lise!" Matsuda piped from behind her. "I've always thought your hair was cool!"

Amelia could not take the comment to heart, for she felt Light's eyes upon her once more.

She turned to look up at him and saw that he was still smiling as if they were two good friends sharing an innocent outing. She took humor to the fact that the world around them was unaware that the young man smiling down on her was a suspect for the world's largest mass murderer and that she was working with L, the famous detective that was hidden away from society…

"See? Majority rules," Light said in response to Matsuda's comment.

She hated that smile. She hated those eyes. She hated that damn _hair._

"I have to pee," she blurted. _God, I need to breathe…just one minute, and I can breathe…Matsuda can handle him for one minute, right?_

Light's face expressed an amused surprise and he nodded. "Ok, we can make a stop at that café over there."

Amelia gave him a quick thumbs-up and walked through the door to a small café, ripping her hood off from her head and releasing a sharp breath. _Jesus Christ…I was an idiot for volunteering for this…but who else would have done it? It was best that it was someone that had the closest watch on him, besides L, of course…but if he just wasn't so goddamn annoying-_

In the midst of her thoughts, she bumped harshly into someone that was in the process of taking a seat at a small table. "Hey, watch out!" a shrill, female voice said.

Amelia glanced up to see whom she had accidentally assaulted and muttered an goaded apology to the girl with the black, bobbed hair and thick-rimmed glasses, her perfectly shaped lips pursed in an offended grimace.

* * *

**Yes, that was most certainly the very Misa that Amelia bumped into…anyone else smell foreshadowing? **

**Reviews would make me smile a whole bunch. And we all know I could use some smiles right about now. **


	17. Turmoil of Two Natures

**Aaaand here we are with another installment of Through Glass!**

**This is where things start to get a little freaky, but I'm still sticking to the plot with a few minor changes to include Amelia. Speaking of her, I delve deeper into her past, in which turns out to be pretty damn dark…**

**Still don't own Death Note. Damn. **

* * *

"Well, all's shitty that ends shitty."

L looked up from his plate of cake and was not surprised to find Amelia standing in the doorway of the newly acquired hotel suite, head covered by the hood of sweatshirt and extremely sour-faced. She closed the door behind her and let out a harsh huff of air. "Light's a obscurantist dick."

L let an amused chuckle pass through his lips and set his plate on the coffee table. "Your language never fails to be the most admirable, Amelia."

"I have all the right in the world to cuss at the moment." Amelia walked over to the couch that L sat upon and took a seat next to him, her elbows resting on her knees tiredly. "I fell right on my ass today when I slipped on god-knows-what, and guess what he did?"

L took another bite of his cake. "Confess that he's Kira?"

"Even worse. He played the good Samaritan card and helped me up."

L stifled a laugh at her wide, childlike eyes as if expecting him to be outraged. "I would have done the same thing, Amelia, except I wouldn't have been a Kira suspect while doing so," he said simply. "Is this why you are so restless?" He looked at her like a doctor would his patient, besides the fact that he was currently eating a ridiculous portion of shortcake.

"That's precisely the point," Amelia said warily. She began rubbing her temples in a circular fashion and squinted her blue eyes shut. "I know he was inwardly laughing his ass off at the fact that one of those who suspects him managed to crash and burn on the sidewalk. I don't even know what I tripped over."

L reached over and gently pulled the hood of her sweatshirt off her head when he realized that not being able to see her profile disturbed him. He was not expecting her to snap her head to look at him, stunned by the touch. "I couldn't see your face," he explained innocently.

Amelia released an awkward laugh. "You wanted to?"

"Yes," L responded without hesitation, his eyes blank.

There were a few prolonged seconds in which Amelia appeared to be searching for a response, and L silently enjoyed the baffled expression in her eyes and the gape of her lips. He took a casual bite of cake, swallowed, and said, "I won't tease you for the fact that you're blushing right now."

"You just did."

"Indirectly."

"Since apparently that doesn't qualify as teasing." Amelia said with a biting sarcasm. "As long as you get a reaction out of me, L."

"Mmm, yes, you've ultimately proven that," L muttered. He looked down at his cake and smiled softly, waiting for her outburst. It was an attack on both of their weaknesses, thinking back to their encounter earlier that day that both L and Amelia were seemingly trying to forget.

_Not now…_

_I know…_

Much to his surprise, Amelia did not explode in fury and turned her face away from him. She stood up and brushed off the thighs of her pants absentmindedly. "Not entirely," she said as-a-matter-of-factly, tugging at the hem of her sweater and giving him a defiant stare.

It was nothing less than adorable.

L's eyes remained blank and he took an absurdly large bite of cake to avoid responding. _So she still wants to-_

"Ah, I see you're stalling to think of something to say back," Amelia cracked. "Cake sure is useful for things like that, isn't it?"

L swallowed hard and bit down on the prongs of his fork, an idea coming to him. "Was your outing today too traumatic to go out to town again?"

Amelia's eyes widened for a moment, but she seemed to understand what he was implying and smiled. "I think I would survive going out once more. But are you willing to?" she asked, her voice trailing off. "I'm so used to L caging himself away from everyone else."

L smiled lightly and hopped off the couch from his perched position. He grazed his bottom lip with his pointer finger, stoking it idly, and shrugged his shoulders. "It's not as though the entire public knows my identity, or yours for the same matter. Besides, Matsuda apparently agrees with me when I say that you need get out more."

With this, he gave her an impish grin and took pleasure in the brief flush of embarrassment in her ivory cheeks. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders and cleared her throat. "Well then! When shall we trek out?"

Her eyes were bright, even excited, and L secretly reveled in the fact that her newfound happiness was courtesy of his offer. He glanced down at his bare feet and inwardly grimaced at the idea of having to wear shoes again, but nevertheless looked back up at her hopeful face and dug his hands in his front pockets. "Right now. Suitable?"

* * *

Judging by how quickly Amelia had bounded out the door, it was apparently quite suitable for her.

They resided in the back of a small bookstore, wedged comfortably between the tall shelves of glossy hardbacks, L crouching and Amelia lounging on her stomach. L had been quietly observing her face as she read through a book entitled _Inside a Murderer's Mind_, watching her brow furrow in concentration and her eyes widen comically. When she suddenly jerked her head up to look at him, he gave a slight jump of alarm and asked, "Yes?"

She was smiling as if she had found the cure to all world conflict, a proud grin that L had seen from her quite often lately. She pushed her book towards him and pointed at a section excitedly. "Whoever wrote this agrees with me," she said in a low voice. "He says that a common trait of brilliant serial killers is high intelligence, a distorted sense of morality, and _perfectionism._" At this, she raised her eyebrows and grinned. "Guess who this all applies to?"

L simply stared at her, both amused and perplexed by her allegiance. When his gaze became prolonged, Amelia looked back down at the book and idly flipped through the pages. "I know you can't convict someone based off some book's theories, but I just found it interesting."

"Indeed it is," L responded, keeping his eyes on her. "If anything, Kira would most certainly fit under that criteria."

"I just wish I knew exactly how he committed such murders," Amelia said under her breath. "Moreover, _why _he would believe that some godly-complex sadism would rid the world of evil. Self-righteous hypocrite…"

L teased at his bottom lip with his index finger and stared up at the tiled ceiling. "Like you said, distorted sense of morality would answer that question."

"But it doesn't _answer _the question, you see?" Amelia said with impatience. "_What _would cause a person to come about such a morality, keep up a front of complete calm in the midst of performing homicide, and still be able to elude being caught?"

A long pause ensued. L returned his attention to her and found that she had leaned in to his face closely, her eyes narrowed and attentive. The silence was broken by her low voice. "Do you remember the diary that the second Kira sent mentioning Shinigami?" she whispered.

"Clearly, yes."

Amelia scanned the surrounding room in search of eavesdroppers, but looked back at L. "What if Kira is receiving help from something we can't_ see_? It would be the perfect opportunity to maintain innocence since there would be no way of catching it."

Her face was a mere three inches away from his, but neither faltered. _What she says make sense, _L thought. _The fact that we have yet to catch Kira could be explained by such a possibility…but we still need more information…_

"And think about this," Amelia continued, "it's obvious that Kira can kill without being in the victim's presence. How else would a mortal person be able to act out indirect murder without some form of supernatural assistance?"

A soft smile came about L's lips. "You're a smart one, aren't you, Amelia?" he said quietly, bringing his voice down to a whisper once he spoke her name.

Amelia returned the sheepish smile and replied, "I have my dumbass moments." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and fiddled with her earlobe. "You've seen most of them."

"And taken much enjoyment out of them," L responded with a cryptic grin. "But that was certainly not one of your, how you say, 'dumbass' moments."

Amelia's smile widened and she carelessly ran her fingers along the open pages of one of the books she had been scouring. "I don't think I can handle any more of those moments being caught by a member of society," she said with a sardonic humor.

L wedged his thumb between his lips and gnawed on the nail with a smirk. "I believe I can handle it. Your blushing is quite the show to attend."

Amelia tossed him an embarrassed grimace in which slowly softened to a smile when his eyes met hers. "I sure do work with a smartass," she muttered.

"Likewise, Ms. Lise Murray, likewise."

* * *

The temperature dropped several degrees before the two began journeying to a café down the street once Amelia felt the trigger of another headache in her temples. She removed her arms from the confinements of her sleeves and wrapped them around herself beneath her sweatshirt, earning a curious stare from her outing partner.

"You look armless," he stated blandly. "Is that your intention?"

"I'm not that uncanny, Ryuzaki," she responded, careful to keep his alias in check. "I'm just trying to keep warm."

L cocked his head to the side and surveyed her with wonder, and Amelia made another mental tally mark on how many times he had stared at her in such a fashion. She was now up to seven, all in the course of three hours. "Warm?" L asked. "But the weather is quite fair, in my opinion."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Yes, in your opinion, but the temperature reads at thirty-nine degrees, thus resulting in being quite _cold._" She rubbed her palms rapidly along her arms in an effort to create heat, but merely felt the hair upon her forearms stand on end.

"The freezing point is in fact thirty-two degrees," L noted. "You don't have to worry about your arms reaching hypothermia just yet."

Amelia made a strangled sound in her throat and tossed her head back in exasperation. "Have you ever realized just how much of a wanker you can be sometimes?"

"It's been awhile since I've heard you say that, Lise-san," L said with a grin. She was aware that he used her alias mockingly, but she brushed it off with a challenging stare. "Sometimes I forget that you lived in England most of your life."

"My Japanese is awful, if you haven't noticed," Amelia said under her breath. She breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the café and she relished the feeling of the heat enveloping her frigid body. She put her arms back into the sleeves of her sweatshirt and spotted a small table in the corner of the café. "Over here?" she asked, gesturing to the table with a wave of her hand.

L ignored her question but followed her anyway. "I've been meaning to ask you, Lise-san, about your reasons for moving to Japan in the first place." As he took a seat across from her, Amelia quickly looked up at him in surprise. He was gazing at her with a childish curiosity, thumb against lip, head cocked to the side so that a chunk of black hair hung over one eye. "If I'm not mistaken, you rather enjoyed living in England. Am I right?"

Amelia pulled her sweatshirt off over her head and adjusted her T-shirt along her frail shoulders. "I did enjoy England," she said simply, "but I wanted a change."

"Please elaborate," L replied in monotone.

Amelia narrowed her eyes in irritation. "Why exactly are you so curious, Ryuzaki?"

L shrugged his shoulders casually. "Because I find it odd that you moved from somewhere like England to somewhere like Japan, that's why."

Both his sudden wonder and her own discomfort frustrated her, but she took a deep breath to try to bring herself back to neutral. "I'm getting a coffee. Save our table, please?" She stared at him with a quiet intensity that told him that she would continue the conversation later, even though she was aware that L was far too stubborn to let it go that simply. Before he could respond, she fished out some money from her pocket and stalked off to the cash register, her free hand clenched into a tight fist.

She preferred not to recall her reason for moving to Japan. At any time.

She took her place in line behind a towering man with a baseball cap atop his head and tried to ignore the burning feeling of L staring at her from the table. _I know he's going to bring it up again_, she thought as she squinted her eyes shut, _and I'm going to have to tell him…fucking brilliant…as if I already didn't have enough on my m-_

The sudden feeling of a hand grazing the curve of her bottom caused her to whip around in search of the source, in which was a man with greasy dark hair and alcohol-glazed eyes, giving her a twisted, sinister smile. Amelia felt her stomach drop as the situation sank in. "Excuse me?" she said in a dangerous, shaking voice, her entire body trembling with rage.

When the man did not answer and merely continued grinning sickly at her, she was unable to fight off the blinding wrath that erupted in her chest. She lurched at him, causing the offender to slightly stumble backwards in surprise, but he chuckled drunkenly and reached out for her again. Amelia slapped his hands away from her chest and hollered, "Get the _fuck _off of me!"

Before she could raise her fist to punch the offender in the jaw, she was being roughly pulled away from the man and towards the door. "It's just me," the soft voice of L spoke in her ear. She turned her head to look at him and saw that his eyes were blazing, a sharp contract from their normal blank. His bottom lip was tucked beneath his teeth until it nearly drew blood. He pushed open the door and led her outside, taking her by the shoulders gently. It was only then that Amelia realized how hard her chest was heaving, how the warm sting of tears welled behind her eyes to the brim. Her fists were clenched so harshly that her nails bit into the callused skin of her hands.

"Aren't you going to-"

"I'll take care of him," he interjected sharply. "Don't leave this spot, understand?"

"No," Amelia objected, "I _don't_ understand. I'm a part of this t-"

His grip on her shoulders tightened and the fire beneath his eyes heightened, taking Amelia off guard. "Do _not_ leave this spot," he repeated in a low voice. "There are times when it's appropriate for you to step in, and this is not one of them, Amelia. You'll know when it is."

He released his hold of her and reentered the café with haste, leaving Amelia against the outside wall and swallowing back the fury of her tears growing behind her eyes.

The minutes passed before the assailant was led out of the building in the grip of two officers, L tailing closely behind with Amelia's sweatshirt tucked in the crook of his arm. He met her eyes gravely and draped the garment across her shoulders. "This is his sixth count of sexual assault," he said quietly, "the least severe of his recent arrests."

Amelia turned her face away from him and watched the man be pulled away by the police officers. "Sixth?" she asked numbly.

L placed his hand on her shoulder timidly and began to lead her away from the building, but Amelia remained still. "He was released on bail for his past accounts; peeping tom, indecent exposure, sexual assault-"

The offender suddenly went rigid in the officers' grip, and a bitter nausea rose in Amelia's throat. As she watched his knees buckle and hit the ground, she felt her own body become light and a wave of sick dread overwhelm her stomach. She reached out for L, for anything to hold her up, and L caught her swaying form and tried to turn her head away from the dying criminal just a few feet away from her. "Don't," he said firmly into her ear. "You can't draw any more attention to yourself right now."

"I-it's Kira," she whispered. "It has to be Kira-"

The offender was convulsing on the ground by now, clutching at his chest in desperation, his face contorted in agony. The officers on each side of him spoke rapidly into their radios, backing away to avoid being struck by the man's flailing limbs, but the criminal froze and suddenly went limp on the ground. His head lolled to the side, eyes glazed and wide open.

He was staring directly at her.

Amelia could not restrain the horrified scream from her lips, but it was rapidly muffled by L's palm being pressed against her mouth to silence her. He pulled her away from the scene, keeping his hand against her mouth to keep her quiet and muttering something into her ear, but the rushing within Amelia's brain caused the world around her to be nothing but a blur of both sound and sight.

_Kira…Kira killed him…right before my eyes…_

* * *

The lights in the hotel suite remained off, besides the harsh glow of the television that Amelia sat in front of on the floor. Watari had draped a small blanket across her back as L watched silently from the kitchen, and he quickly beckoned the older man back before he spoke to her. Judging by the numb expression on the girl's face, L knew that talking was not in the agenda at the moment, along with crowding her with inquiries on her mental state.

It was fragile, splintered, and both L and Amelia were all too aware of it.

"She wishes to speak with you, L," Watari spoke when he entered the kitchen. "It has been reported on the news already."

L released a light sigh and clenched his fists within his pockets. "I'll speak with her, thank you," he said under his breath as he walked into the living room. He paused before approaching the sitting form of Amelia on the floor and crouched down next to her. "Watari said that you wanted to speak with me-"

"I should tell you now why I moved to Japan," she said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. She kept her eyes away from him and stared at the floor, her hair obscuring her profile like it normally did. "There's no better time for me to tell you, I guess."

"Would you like to go somewhere more comfortable?" L asked, keeping his voice gentle. He was unsure of whether to touch her or not to comfort her; the situation had been brought about by a touch from a stranger, a stranger who had been claimed by Kira directly in front of them.

Amelia nodded and stood up with the assistance of L and followed him into the bedroom. He closed the door and watched her sit down on the edge of the bed with the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders loosely. Taking a seat in the armchair in the corner of the room, he surveyed her red-rimmed eyes with concern. "Amelia, this isn't necessary if you don't deem it to be," he reassured in vain.

The girl shook her head and flicked a thick strand of hair out of her eyes. "No," she said firmly, "no, I need to tell you."

"As you wish," L responded gently, resting his hands atop his perched knees.

Amelia took a deep breath and met his eyes. "A week after I left the orphanage, my eighteenth birthday, I got this apartment down in Chelsea and found a roommate to help me pay rent. She and I had to scramble around for cash, and we managed to pay rent steadily for four months until it got more difficult for us to find money." Amelia wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve and continued. "So she got into some risky business and I kicked her out, knowing perfectly well that it would be pretty much impossible to pay the rent without a roommate. I didn't hear from her until a month later when she called my apartment demanding for some stuff she left there that she apparently 'needed'."

"She was a drug dealer," L stated after piecing together the information Amelia was giving him through her anecdote.

"Yes," she said with an air of disgust. "So I told her to kindly go to hell and leave me alone, that I could manage the rent on my own, even though in reality, I was on the verge of being kicked out." Her face suddenly became grave, paler than its custom, and she cleared her throat harshly. "Two days passed and she showed up at my door, screaming at me to leave the apartment and give her the keys. Naturally, I tried to go inside to call the police and get her the hell out of there, but she was one step ahead of me and brought her posse of druggies into my apartment to intimidate me. I managed to get past them and made my way down the stairwell, but once again, she was another step ahead and had another guy waiting for me in an alley just outside the complex."

L felt a burning sickness rising in his throat at the thought of what was to come out of her mouth next. He remained silent and gave a slight nod of his head to signal her to go on.

"So, um, basically he beat the living shit out of me and tried to engage in rape, but thankfully an older man walked by and pulled him off of me before he was able to act it out. The next day at a department store, I saw that my roommate had been murdered that night by her posse after she managed to hack into my savings account."

By now, Amelia's voice had trailed off into the air with a trembling bitterness. L fingered at his bottom lip and fought the urge to reach out and collect her quaking form into his arms.

Amelia's face softened at her next statement. "I had always wanted to move to Japan because it was somewhere new, somewhere that no one would know me or show up at my door demanding the keys to my apartment," she explained. "Japan was the virtual opposite of the place that I had been put through hell after my years at the orphanage. It was as though if I got a new chance, I would be able to forget the night that made me decide to move in the first place." Her voice cracked and she winced at the sound, clearing her throat again. "But, like always, I was naïve to think that Japan would be some sanctuary from crime and perverts and murderers that never fail to fuck up the planet."

With each word, her voice became more and more acidic, her fists clenching onto the blanket tighter until her knuckles turned white. "This is why I want to bring Kira to justice. No matter what twisted form of law and order that he follows, a murderer can never be some righteous god that people should be scared into worshipping. Kira is just as evil as the man that kicked my ass in that alley, or the gang that murdered my roommate, or the _pervert_ that tried to feel me up today." She swallowed hard and shrugged the blanket off her shoulders with impatience. Her eyes connected with his, in which had been quietly surveying each and every emotion that passed across her face.

"There will _never_ be a murderer that I respect, L," she said quietly with narrowed blue eyes. "And I refuse to be brainwashed into believing that I do."

* * *

**Wow…this chapter turned out to be much darker than I intended. Ah, oh well. **

**Please, please, please review…feedback makes me uber happy. Even if it's just a few words…they're all lovely to me and taken to heart. **


	18. Embrace

**Hello, all! Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter…as a result, here is a quick update! ::nerdy grin::**

**LIME WARNING! I know, finally, right? **

**And thank you to ravenshadows08 for your review! I didn't get to respond to you before since you were on anonymous, so thank you! And thanks again to my other lovely reviewers!**

* * *

L watched her sleep that night, curled up beneath the soft blankets of the hotel's queen-sized bed and auburn hair splayed across the pillow in careless, tangled abandon.

Was he a pervert? No, not in his terms. Was he entranced? Absolutely.

As restless as the girl normally was in daylight, her sleep was undisturbed and quiet, apart from her steady breathing and the occasionally rustle of sheets. L, on the other hand, was sitting in the armchair across from the bed at four in the morning, laptop propped up on his knees and fingers beginning to falter over the keys with fatigue.

A cup of steaming coffee came into his view, and he turned his head to see Watari standing next to the armchair with a tender smile on his face. "Watching over her, I see," he said quietly.

L accepted the coffee and watched Watari place the steel jar of sugar subes down on the nightstand by the chair. "You could call it that," he responded with a faint air of guilt. "I've decided to take the blame for this occurance." He looked up at the older man for reassurance, something he only truly felt confidence in with his caretaker. "Is that unhealthy of me?"

"Not exactly," Watari replied, keeping his voice just above a whisper so as to not wake Amelia. "You are protecting her. When you care for someone, it is natural feel concern when they experience pain."

L turned his eyes to the dark well of his coffee as he accessorized it with countless sugar cubes. "I fear that I am only adding to her wreckage. This case is not aiding anyone's mental state, to say the least."

Watari gave him a knowing smile and picked up two empty mugs that sat on the table. "It has most certainly changed you, L."

L kept his eyes on the sleeping figure of Amelia, whose lips were pouted and swollen with slumber, and asked, "Changed?"

Watari gave a gentle nod of his head and kept the paternal smile on his face, worn with age. "You will come to terms with it soon, just as she will. It would be best for you to see it yourself than for me to explain it, L."

Amelia lightly stirred in her sleep and embraced the bundle of sheets tighter in her arms, her brow creased as if concentrating. L watched it relax, along with the rest of the muscles in her face, and glanced back up at Watari tiredly. "I must have my boundaries, Watari," he said softly, "for both of our protection. If I grow too close…"

"We all have our boundaries, L," Watari alleged, "but there is a difference between protecting the one you care about, and fearing what may come out of it if you do so."

L dipped his finger into his lukewarm coffee and stirred it indolently, thinking upon the man's words with a conflicting premise. The idea of admitting anything further to Amelia than he already had made him cringe…he had only succeeded in falling further than he wished and putting both of their strengths under threat.

Their strength was the most obvious; intelligence, motivation, justice. Their weakness was each other, and it was not as effortless to ignore.

"If I am not mistaken, you have gone three days without a proper rest," Watari stated with dry humor. "I am sure Ms. Amelia would not mind sharing the bed for one night."

L glanced up at him in surprise, speechless once more, and saw that the man was exiting the room with the empty mug in his hand, chuckling quietly to himself. Turning quickly back to his coffee in which was now turning cold due to neglect, he saw Amelia stirring again beneath the covers and froze in his movement. _If she heard that conversation…_

She was whimpering, twitching far too violently to simply be dreaming, and her eyes snapped open after a few seconds of thrashing. L observed her with fretful fascination as her knuckles went white from her clutch of the sheets within her fist, her chest heaving and her lips trembling.

L placed his coffee back down on the table and silently stood up out of his chair. "Amelia," he said softly in an attempt to bring the girl back to reality from a seemingly disturbing dream. Standing by the bed, he looked down at her as she slowly adjusted to the room around her. Her eyes were frighteningly large, watering and flitting from object to object, to finally rest upon L. "Y-you're still here," she whispered.

"To be sure I am," L replied, cocking his head. "Did you have a nightma-"

Without warning, Amelia reached out for him and pulled him to her by the hips, causing him to lose his footing and collapse on top of her in a tousled mound of sheets and detectives. There were fingers in his hair, lips upon his collarbone, and the shivering young woman that currently had a hold of him inexplicably cracked and began weeping against his neck. L felt himself go rigid, unsure of whether to move or not, but realized that Amelia was holding him too tightly to allow him to do so. Her hair tickled his cheek as she pressed herself closer to him, clutching onto his shirt with her free hand.

Her lips were within kissing distance, but he was entirely numb against her warmth and tears and curves.

"I deduct that you most certainly had a nightmare," he noted quietly. He decided that it was pointless to ask why she was holding him so desperately; such a question would be foolish when he realized how sweet she smelled, or how the warm surface of her lips brushed against the sensitive skin of his neck when she tilted her head.

"I can't remember much of it," she whispered, "but you were gone. Kira…it was him…"

L felt a bitter chill sweep through his veins and he gently rolled off of her, keeping one hand on her shoulder. _A nightmare that isn't all that impossible,_ he thought as he lifted the sheets and replaced the empty space of the bed with his body. Amelia shifted onto her other side to face him and, ever so cautiously, reached out her hand and placed it on L's cheek. The expression in her red-rimmed eyes sent a shot of both remorse and pining through his chest, but as her fingers lightly grazed along his face and down his jaw, the latter became more prominent to the point where he was greedily leaning into the touch in an effort to blind himself from the guilt of the situation he was now in.

_No…I can't draw too close…but…_

"Don't move…" she whispered, her hand shaking slightly.

"Amelia, we can't-"

When her touch moved to his lips, he gently, but all too reluctantly, placed his hand over hers and drew it to her side. He watched with a burning guilt as she squinted her eyes shut, the tears squeezing out from the inflamed corners.

_How much longer can I hold this off…?_

He did not want to hold it off any longer…not in any sense of the meaning. There was nothing he wanted more than to have let her do as she wished to him, no questions or hesitations or shameful doubts that he would _not_ allow himself to get in too deep with something he could not control.

He was L. Relationships were to be avoided…they were dangerous, they had the potential to put each party in jeopardy that could end in dire results...

But the crestfallen look in Amelia's eyes told him different.

She kept her eyes shut in ignominy, her face reddening, and turned her head away from him. "I'm sorry," she choked out. She sat up and threw the sheets off her body, but before she could stand up to flee the scene, L caught her by the arm and tugged her back to him in desperation.

He still had no idea how to do this, but was that about to hold him back from the one time they would not be interrupted? The idea was laughable.

Their lips all but crashed together, lacking the perfect aim and pressure that skilled lovers had, but the manner that Amelia clutched at his chest told him that she could not care less how experienced he was in the field.

Her lips were just as sweet as he had imagined.

* * *

Although it lacked the technique that a kiss required, Amelia was spellbound.

It was a short series of disconnected contact with their lips, interjected with quick gasps of air and breathy murmurs of encouragement. She was terrified, inebriated from their frantic handling, and the sound of her heartbeat echoing in her ears nearly overwhelmed her own rapid breathing as L hungrily fed upon her lips.

They did not know what they were doing, and it only made it all the more arousing.

Her hands roamed from his face down to his neck, then glided to his chest within a second as she ached for each and every unexplored inch of the body that had been teasing her relentlessly for far too long.

She heard him take in a sharp breath when she stole his hands away from their grip of her waist and held them against her heaving chest, pressing them into the soft mounds of her breasts above her shirt. Without warning, L flipped her over onto her back and pinned her beneath his weight and pushed her legs up to rest against his shoulders. He met her lips again clumsily and ground his groin into hers when she gave him a panicked nod of her head. When she noticed his breathing hasten, along with hers, she shakily reached down between their bodies and tugged at the waist of his jeans.

It was only then that the lucid truth of what was happening fully sunk in.

The world around them paused, as well as their own fumbling of the other's body. Trembling and breathing heavily, Amelia watched as L drew back slowly from her face with spacious, potentially petrified eyes. There was a long string of moments where neither uttered a word, but only stared into the other's eyes as their breathing slowed and calmed.

L bowed his head and broke their gaze, looking off to the right. "I can't let myself take advantage of you in this state, Amelia," he mumbled, "please understand that."

Amelia nodded, completely mute. _Were we really just about to - no, not possibly…_

"I realize that it was me who initiated this…"

"No," Amelia said hoarsely, "it was me. Don't take the blame for it."

"I'm quite positive that nothing would have occurred if I had not pulled you to me, Amelia," L said with slight exasperation.

Amelia felt a smile growing upon her flushed face when she realized that this was yet another debate between them, even in the afterglow of an unexpected "kiss". "And just what is your percentage for that, I wonder?" she asked slyly.

L looked back at her and returned the smile, although his resembled a much more sheepish nature. _He's still quite shaken…looks like I _do_ have an effect on him…_

"I'd say roughly eighty-two percent, the remainder pertaining to the near future, of course," he said after clearing his throat and easing up on the pressure of his weight upon her body.

Amelia relished the last second that his chest was pressed against hers before he propped himself on his elbows and stared down at her. "Ah, so you were planning this in advance?" she asked with a smirk. She fought the urge to lean in and taste the sweetly swollen lips that had been exploring hers only a few moments earlier, and considering the way L's eyes were flitting to her own mouth, she knew that the same notion was being thought upon in his head.

But…could she? Would she be crossing the line that L was carefully crafting between them?

"I hadn't planned it, not quite, but…well, I suppose it crossed my mind quite a bit, yes," L said thoughtfully. The youthful innocence in his words made Amelia soften her smile as she timidly ran her toes along the back of his calves, a subtle stroke of admiration, and she observed his eyes flutter shut for a brief second before opening them again.

"Please don't tempt me, Amelia," he whispered, "for it is already difficult enough to control myself seeing you beneath me like this."

Amelia felt her blush deepen at the breathiness of his voice and his words, and she cleared her throat awkwardly and said, "Do you need me to leave for a moment?"

"That would require me to move and, quite frankly, I am unable to do that right now."

"What do you mean?"

L took a deep breath, but kept his body completely still. The rosy glow to his cheeks told her that the heat of their actions had not yet diminished from his body. "I'm afraid that by moving, I would only heighten the unsettling conflict that I'm currently in. It's quite uncomfortable."

"So you have a boner," Amelia said bluntly. She stared up at him in humored disbelief, that _she_ had put him in the position that he was in; _aroused._

L's eyes widened momentarily and he cleared his throat again. "Whatever term you wish to label it as, yes," he replied, "and it would be best to just…give me a moment…"

Amelia gazed up at him in awe and nodded. "Sure," she whispered, allowing herself to take solace in the quiet contact of their bodies as L closed his eyes and turned his head away from her face. The pale, smooth skin of his cheek, the soft angle of his jaw…her fingers twitched to stroke it, to familiarize herself with the face hovering above hers, but she knew that the situation called for patience.

She was trembling…she was still laying beneath him, her hands now resting on either side of her head on the pillow. Gazing up at him, she imagined the circumstances being the opposite; entwined within the sheets, tender movements, hands gripping her hips and behind her neck, breathing words of trust and languorous ardor in between heated kisses…

It could all be too real if she just turned his face to hers and claimed his lips once more. Just one touch and it would be theirs…

_Don't do it…he's not ready…and even if he is, this isn't the time…but I-_

"I believe I can move now," L said softly, turning his eyes back onto hers. The expression in them still held a diluted hunger and his lips had not lost their distended appearance, which was just enough to unleash Amelia's restrain. She quickly leaned forward, placing her lips upon his warm neck. She felt him take in a soft breath and bend into the touch before suddenly withdrawing and squinting his eyes shut. He shifted his weight off of her slightly, but her grip of him pulled him back down upon her. "Don't," she whispered, "please."

His eyes were still closed tightly, as if in agony, but his hands tightened on her shoulders considerably. "Amelia, you don't-"

"I don't what? Know the risks of this?" Her voice was shaking as she slowly reached her hand up to rest upon his, intertwining their fingers in an intimate weave.

She felt L's hand lightly squeeze hers before he opened his eyes. "I believe you know the risks perfectly well, but you are refusing to pay them mind," he said, keeping his voice gentle.

"And I believe that you want exactly what I want but are trying to convince yourself that you don't," Amelia responded, her voice low. "How long are you going to keep trying to fool me, L?"

L's endlessly black eyes remained hooked onto hers, slightly lidded and hazy. "I am obviously not fooling you if you've come about this theory, Amelia." He squeezed her hand once more before releasing his fingers from within her grasp. Cautiously, as if she would shatter beneath his touch, he ran his palm along her cheek and cupped her chin, his thumb grazing her lips. He cocked his head and peered down at her as her eyelids sank shut.

"Then just…kiss me again," she whispered. She kept her eyes shut, waiting for his lips to welcome hers once more. The silent seconds passed, L's thumb leaving her lips and resting on her pulse. When she heard him intake a soft breath, she prepared herself for the kiss that she was burning for beneath his body, within his arms.

The kiss, however, did not come as she expected.

His lips grazed her ear and she shivered at the subtle touch. "There's only so much time I can spend running away from this, Amelia," he murmured into her ear. "And when the time comes that I stop running, I'll make certain that you're there with me."

* * *

She ached.

Amelia had watched L walk out of the bedroom, scratching the back of his head nervously, after he had uttered the phrase into her ear that managed to keep her awake for the remainder of the early morning.

_I'll make certain…_

The clock read six thirty in the morning. She had been alone in the bed for two hours…two hours of pondering what had _almost_ happened beneath the sheets that covered her.

_…that you're there with me._

* * *

_"I was able to find Kira."_

L's hand froze in midair before he took a lethargic bite of the strawberry between his fingers. _Interesting…three days after the visit to Aoyama, and the second Kira is claiming to have found him…_

"This isn't good," Matsuda muttered, bowing his head and shaking it sullenly. "What if-"

"This isn't the time for 'what if's", Matsuda," Aizawa snapped. "Don't lose your head over things that haven't even happened yet." He rubbed his temples as he stared at the television, in which was broadcasting the new message from the second Kira. The sloppy lettering and garbled voice had been grating on the nerves of all the members of the task force, but the moment that the message had been received through the TV, both L and Amelia had simultaneously jerked to attention. Any potential new clue, a point of direction that could lead them to track down both Kiras was vitally important, regardless of however less-than-adept the second Kira possibly was.

"You're one to talk about not losing your head, Aizawa," Amelia said under her breath from the floor. L stifled a chuckle when he saw Aizawa jerk his head sharply to her and huff out an irate breath, and he looked down at her from his usual chair. The girl must have felt his eyes on her, for she turned her head and met his gaze with a soft smile.

Neither had spoken of the incident in the two days that spanned after it. The early hours of the 23rd had replayed in their minds countless times; heated glances stolen during an occasional brush of the hand or shoulder would bring the episode back onto the table, but never acted upon in fear of the carefully constructed control finally cracking beneath the weight of their yearning.

Both detectives' attention was immediately drawn back to the television when the second Kira began speaking again.

_"…policemen, thank you very much."_

"How ironic is this guy?" Amelia said, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. "Thanking us for helping him out in meeting his murdering idol."

At her statement, L stole a glance at Light Yagami, whom stood a few feet away. His face was perfectly neutral, calm, even in the seconds following the broadcast and Amelia's forward avowal. L knew that it had been aimed at the teenager to get a rise out of him, considering that he was a strong suspect, but he was not surprised that Light showed no reaction.

He was, after all, a brilliant actor, according to L's deduction.

"Matsuda, I would like to know what you were going to say before Aizawa interrupted you," L said as he plucked another strawberry from the porcelain bowl. "Does it pertain to the second Kira?"

The young officer seemed taken back by being paid attention to and wrung his hands. "Well, I was just going to say that, um, what if Kira and the second Kira are, you know, working together now? Wouldn't that be pretty bad for us?"

There was a long silence, L chewing thoughtfully on a strawberry and Amelia pacing and tugging at her earlobe. He swallowed and wiped his red-stained fingers off on his jeans. "I'm not too concerned about the Kiras joining forces just yet, Matsuda."

"Huh?" Matsuda said cluelessly. "But why? It sure does seem like it, doesn't it? I mean-"

"We can't exactly jump to that conclusion when it is very unlikely that Kira would instruct the second Kira to announce meeting him," L explained, staring up at the ceiling with his thumb cradled between his lips. He glanced over to Amelia. "Lise-san, what are your thoughts on this matter?"

The girl met his eyes and flushed slightly in her pale cheeks, but quickly reverted to professional when she said, "There would be no reason for Kira to make it necessary for the second Kira to say that they have become one team." At this, she clasped her hands together to signify unity, causing L to smile inwardly and nod in agreement. She continued, "If I were Kira, I would want to keep joining forces with the second Kira completely secret so as to not attract any further investigatory attention. It would make the task of catching the real Kira much easier if the second is caught, wouldn't you agree?"

L looked away from her and back at the bowl of strawberries, smiling softly. "I'm impressed, Lise-san," he said simply. _If we caught the second Kira, that could mean that we could gain more information on the real Kira's methods of killing…_

"So, wait," Aizawa cut in, putting one hand up, "the second Kira is basically a pawn? Who are we more hell-bent on catching, the second Kira or the real deal?"

"The second Kira has still committed murder," Amelia said firmly, "so it's not to say that we don't take him seriously, Aizawa."

L hopped out of his chair and shoved his fists into his pockets, looking up at the temperamental officer tiredly. "What I believe Lise-san meant was that the second Kira could be a valuable source of information leading to the real Kira. Please don't underestimate the severity of catching both murderers." Taking the bowl of strawberries in to his hands and holding it against his chest, he cast another sideways glance at Light Yagami to see his reaction to the discussion around him.

To L's great disturbance, he was not looking back at L. He was staring…_no, is he glaring?..._ directly in Amelia's direction.

* * *

**So…they finally kissed. And writing L's last line in that scene made me all fuzzy. Hope it had the same effect on you!**

**Reviews would be lovely, as usual!**


	19. China Doll

**And Misa Amane finally makes her debut in this chapter!**

**This is my longest chapter yet, over 8000 words, thus explaining the long wait. I'm quite proud of this chapter after having a few difficulties writing it. **

**I do not own Death Note, **_**mes amis.**_

* * *

"If he isn't Kira, then I'm going to pull an Oedipus and gouge my eyes out."

Amelia's mumbled statement from behind L caused him to turn his eyes away from the window and give her a nod of approval. "Ah, lovely taste in literature, Lise-san," he said with a humorous lilt, "but I rather admire your eyes, so I would hold back from doing so."

"Then I'll gouge his eyes out. How does that sound?"

"Slightly more agreeable, but illegal," L said bluntly, "so you may have to hold off on attacking anyone's eyes for quite some time. I'm sorry." He smirked, scratched the back of his head, and felt a light swell of pride when the girl laughed at his remark.

In spite of their recent loss of control, a mere step away from something engaging in something drastic beneath the sheets, she was still able to look him in the eye. L, of course, did not find the problem in the eye contact; it was the burning, biting feeling of wanting to go back to the bed and finish what he had started.

_He _had pulled her back to him with a firm tug of her arm. _He_ had let her cling onto him and shiver as they shared a kiss, their first kiss for each. But the truth of the matter, the very fact that she had reacted to his confession with a squeeze of his shoulder and an awed nod, told him that she would let him. No, that she would _want_ him to bring them back to where they had left off.

His inexperience in the field told him that it would be difficult to initiate without her encouragement, even in the midst of his own hunger. He had nearly lost all control when she had taken his hands and allowed them to rest upon the soft mounds of her chest when there had still been the burdening presence of clothing between them. The very idea of that factor of the equation being canceled out made it them all the more impatient.

And terrified.

"You're staring," Amelia noted with an awkward chuckle.

Perhaps he was. It had been almost a full minute since Amelia had laughed.

"My apologies," L said in his usual monotone, "my mind has not quite fully returned to me as of now."

Amelia cleared her throat and turned away to look out the window, craning her neck to peer down into the city below. "How so?"

_Ah, so she's learned the teasing game, _L thought with a cock of his head. "I believe your analytical skills are much more advanced that to ask that," he quipped. Remembering that the task force was still collected in the parlor taking a breather, he leaned in to her ear to murmur, "Right, Amelia?"

L stifled a smile at the sound of her frustrated release of breath and the sight of her face flushing. She kept her eyes away from his in defiance, narrowing them in their gaze out the window. "Well, I'm curious to see how you would word it," she said hastily, "it would be interesting, to say the least."

"Interesting?"

"Precisely, yes."

L watched as she tugged at her earlobe in the same fashion that a smile tugged at one corner of her mouth. Her cobalt eyes were flitting carelessly from building to building instead of his face for the sole purpose of teasing him. She _knew_ that L was watching her, but would she grant him the liberty of meeting his eye and becoming even? Not while she was currently succeeding in irking his pride.

L knew Amelia's methods just as she understood his, and he was determined to become the master at her own game. He looked away from her as well and leaned his body closer to hers, their shoulders brushing as they stood side by side at the window. Almost immediately, Amelia shifted her weight and her hip grazed L's at the motion, yet neither made any attempt to look at the other.

An indirect battle, bridged by two shoulders touching.

"Got an answer to that one? Or are you stunned speechless and giving up?"

The taunting mirth in her voice dragged his answer out of him. "I'm afraid that touching you may have been a curse on my behalf, Amelia," he said softly. He gave in to their little game of keeping their eyes averted and glanced at her out of the corner of one fatigue-shadowed eye. The russet-haired girl appeared to be holding her breath, her eyes slightly wider, but she remained completely still. "Do you regret it?" she inquired, her voice hoarse.

_Do I…regret it?_

Seeing her beneath his adrenaline-fueled body, waiting for him…tasting her lips for the first time, hearing her ragged breath when he had pinned her down atop the sheets within his arms. The memory was far from lamentable.

But was he about to verbalize such a thought? Even lacking the social skills that the most common human possessed, he knew the phrase would be far from appropriate.

He opted for a wordless answer and lightly rested his hand atop hers on the windowsill. The touch was just soft enough to bring sensation, but he lay no weight upon her hand and merely grazed her skin chastely; a preview of a touch, to say the least. L felt her twitch her fingers upwards into his hand as she slowly turned her eyes back to his, in which were incredulous and a tad alarmed.

He only touched her hand for a few silent seconds before drawing it back into the pocket of his jeans, staring down at his bare feet. She was still staring, still trembling subtly. "I…I'm not supposed to be like this," she said as firmly as she could while keeping her voice just above a whisper. She sounded as if trying to convince herself of something that was life-threatening, crucial towards her wellbeing. It was disturbing, in a sense, feeling as though L was not the person being addressed.

L did not look up, but she had his attention, however blurred it seemed to be. "I apologize," he said softly. "This isn't appropriate for the time be-"

"No," Amelia muttered, "that's not it. I'm a stubborn ass, L, you know that." She gave him a cryptic, weak smile, the fatigue of the investigation obvious in her gray-rimmed eyes. She was beginning to resemble L, except in female form, in the form of gauche beauty that L knew Amelia was blind to in herself. She shifted back to the window and placed a hand on the cool glass, tracing a mindless pattern on its surface with her fingertip. "And our…um, _episode_ has left me slightly jarred. Confused, even."

L's shoulders sulked. "Ah, so _confusion_ is the problem," he said quietly. "Rest assured, Amelia, I am quite relieved that I managed to stop myself where I did."

Amelia jerked her head around to him, causing him to glance up at her. The expression in her eyes was strange, a mixture of surprise and repentance that lingered beneath the iris' blue. "I didn't mean to provoke it," she said shiftily. In spite of her frequent temper, she kept her voice quiet enough so as to not draw attention from the task force in the parlor. "I was delusional, do you recall that?"

_She's defending her pride, _L thought cynically, _just as she always does…it appears as though intimacy is no different… _

"Of course you were," he agreed simply. "But we both know that the wish was mutual."

"I never-" When she realized that she has raised her voice slightly, she stopped herself and took a deep breath. "I never said that it wasn't," she continued quietly, "however, the aftermath is a little more than…awkward." She looked around nervously, flitting her eyes up to meet his and lingering. "Sometimes it even has the potential to make me want to, I don't know, kick something as hard as I can and scream at you." She clenched her fists. "You frustrate me so much that I want to rip my hair out, but-"

She stopped herself, but L was intent on hearing what she wanted to say. "Please continue," he said monotonously, thumb against lip.

Her eyes flashed in agitation and she let out a harsh sigh, shaking her head. "Forget about it," she said in a heavy whisper. "I won't be surprised if the topic comes up again by the end of the night, seeing as it amuses you so much."

L had to smile softly at her statement. "An eye for prediction, I see," he whispered back, making sure to narrow his eyes for a split second for her to catch. "Might I suggest that we return to the meeting before we are suspected of eloping?"

The frustration on Amelia's face went flat and she rolled her eyes. "Must you always be so…"

"Crass?"

"Yes."

L looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment. "Mm, yes," he said blandly.

"Yes?"

"Yes."

Amelia stared him down, either unbearably furious or in awe, L could not tell. She was perhaps the only person that he could not read precisely; the sharpness of her gaze paired with the femininity of her face never failed to throw him, to make him think not twice, but three times to find a conclusion to what mood she happened to be in.

With a smile, L decided that he enjoyed the challenge and led her back into the parlor.

* * *

The headache that Amelia thought she had managed to shake off returned with a powerful force the second that she bumped into Light, having botched her attempt at wheeling around him after exiting the bathroom.

"Oh, sorry, Light," she said with a false sincerity, looking up at him with an even more false apology. Whether he caught on, Amelia failed to care.

He was gorgeous, to say the least, in a men's magazine genre of the term; virtually the complete opposite of L. The sepia of his eyes battled with L's charcoal gray, his hair perfectly crafted to flop over his forehead as opposed to the natural chaos that was L's own hair. Light Yagami, however frustrating to her, was shamelessly stunning, but to say that she was as curious to touch him as she was towards L would be a lie. L was ashambles; L was grunge in its most entrancing form; L was everything erroneous that had been molded into something that Amelia could not resist.

Light was beautiful, immaculate, but as Amelia stood in front of him, she concluded that she would not willingly touch him without gagging.

"No problem, it was my fault," Light responded casually. He smiled and shifted his weight to his other foot, thus blocking Amelia from moving around him. "Like I said, you look very nice when your hair is down like that."

The unexpected compliment threw Amelia off guard, but only momentarily as she rebuilt the firm wall between them. "It gets in the way," she said, pulling it back with the ponytail on her wrist. "I quite like it up."

_Ha, not giving him that liberty…as if I wore it down just for _him…

Light let out a genial laugh and tossed his hair out of his eyes. "Suit yourself," he replied, "it looks nice either way."

"Hm, well, thank you." Amelia nodded once, her lips twitching in agitation as she smiled at him. She made a smooth beeline around him and she reentered the living room in which L and the remaining task force resided, feeling his gaze upon her the whole way.

* * *

The hours passed and the task force returned to their homes, all but a frustrated and moody Aizawa.

"That's a hell of a lot of footage, Ryuzaki," Aizawa said from the doorway of the parlor. "You're going to be up all night if you plan on watching it by yourself."

Amelia half-heartedly raised her hand from the floor, in which she was lounging on her stomach next to L's chair. "He's not alone, Aizawa," she said tiredly.

Aizawa seemed not to notice her statement and sighed. "This messaging the second Kira back and forth sure is getting old."

Amelia rolled her eyes but made no comment. It was already clear enough that she and the task force member were never on the same page on any topic, and she was already weary enough from the day to start a retaliation. She glanced up at L and saw that he was peering at her out of the corner of his eye, a strange expression on his chalk-white face. His lips were slightly parted, as if about to speak, and he did not look away when she met his eyes.

_What the…?_

"Well, I guess I'm off," Aizawa announced when neither L or Amelia made a response. "The wife's been pretty feisty with me getting home so late, you know?"

L was still staring at her, causing Aizawa's words to be nothing more than a blur of sound in her ears. He seemed to be trying to answer something, to reassure himself of a question or doubt that could be answered through inappropriate gazing. To increase the discomfort, L brought his slender pointer finger to his mouth and pouted his lips against it, most likely completely blind to the effect it had on Amelia.

She did not speak, instead opting to furrow her brow in an inquiry that was not being answered. _Why is he still…?_

The heavy footsteps of Aizawa leaving the room and his sigh of annoyance at being ignored again seemed to bring L back to his senses. His eyes widened for a moment upon Amelia and he looked back at the television. "Thank you, Aizawa-san," he said distractedly. With a quick little flick of his eyes, his glance returns to Amelia for only a split second.

It was just enough for her to speak up.

"L?"

"You'd be surprised to know that I slept last night," he said quietly, picking up his cup of coffee and bringing it to his pale lips.

Amelia nodded slowly, unsure of what to say in response. "Er…really?"

"Mm, yes." He took a quiet sip from his cup and narrowed his eyes in concentration on the television. "But what surprised me," he muttered, "is that I dreamed of you." He looked over at her, his eyes wide in something that greatly resembled _fear. _Confusion? Uncertainty? "It seems slightly abnormal of me. Wouldn't you agree?"

Amelia felt her stomach twist. _Guess I'm abnormal then…well, at least we share another oddity in his terms…_

"Although I suppose having your mind occupied by someone could ultimately affect your subconscious state," L stated thoughtfully. He gave an untailored shrug and took another sip of coffee. "Either way, I found it interesting."

Amelia propped herself up with her elbows and tried to focus on the Aoyama footage on the television. She failed when the full insinuation of L's statement swirled within the confinements of her mind. "What was the dream about?" she asked, all too innocently for her nature. She knew _exactly_ what L had implied, now she had the experience of her own dream to back up her theory. Nevertheless, she wanted to hear the words come from his lips.

_Amelia Lasswell, I had a dream about making hot, sweet love upon you without any qualms or interruptions from Matsuda-_

A shrewd snigger squeezed out from her pursed lips and she was fully aware that L had caught it.

"Judging by the fact that you just laughed, I believe that you are not as clueless as you are trying to come off, Amelia," L calmly said.

"Your frankness is amusing, that's all."

"While I'm sure it is to some," L said with impatience, "I'm still unsure as to what to make of this dream. It was..." L looked up at the ceiling in search of the correct term to use, and said, "Abstract, to say the very least." He sighed, leaned forward, and pressed the pause button on the VCR.

Amelia took this as a sign that he wished to discuss the matter deeper with her and she suppressed a grin. "That's a strange term to give it," she alleged. "Were we…dancing?" She snorted back a cackle and rolled over onto her back on the floor.

L shook his head nonchalantly, as if they were discussing the weather instead of his dream about her. "No, Amelia, we were having sex." He took a casual sip of his coffee and kept his gaze steady upon her.

The careless fashion that he threw such a phrase at her caused her to nearly have whiplash when she jerked her head up to look at him. "Pardon?" she choked out.

"Yes. Sex. Surely you've heard of it-"

"_Yes_, L," Amelia snapped, "but did you have to say it so bluntly?"

L cocked his head and stared down at her with a comically childish expression. "I believe that you stated that my bluntness was amusing. Have you changed your mind?" he asked with a mocking disappointment, smiling wickedly over the rim of his mug.

"Not quite," she retorted cooly, "but hearing you speak of things that involve you and I having sex has proven to be slightly unnerving."

L was silent for a moment, and Amelia could almost hear the cogs between his ears churning up a rebuttal. He opened his mouth and delivered a quiet, "I am eighty-four percent certain that you have had at least one sexual reverie in the past month." He surveyed her for a moment with curious eyes and continued, "No, eighty-six percent."

Amelia scoffed and sat up, feeling vulnerable whilst laying down. "What, did I just suddenly look hornier within two seconds? What's with the change in percent?"

"Eighty-four just didn't feel accurate. Besides," he added, "I thoroughly enjoy muddling you like this."

"To an unhealthy degree," Amelia mumbled, standing up and brushing off the back of her pants. "There's nothing muddling about having an erotic dream, L. It's human nature to desire sexual intercourse. If not, the human race would be royally fucked up."

"I never entitled it as 'erotic', exactly. More of an abstraction than anything of an erotic nature. "

Amelia felt her cheeks flush and scowled in an attempt to hide the onslaught of memories from her own dream. "We were having sex, were we not?"

L's eyes traveled back up to the ceiling in seemingly deep thought as his thumb rested between his lips. "Yes, I suppose we were," he said offhandedly, as if a grand revelation had crossed over his mind.

It was undeniably charming, in spite of the awkward situation.

"Well, L, I'm very happy for you," Amelia responded with a humored sarcasm. "It looks like a part of you is human after all."

L smiled softly at her for a moment, then reached forward and pressed play on the tape once more. "Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way, shall we analyze these tapes like we were supposed to be doing?"

* * *

_"If Kira and the second Kira have joined forces at all, or at least contacted one or the other, it would have had to have been before the 24th. That much I am sure of."_

_"The second Kira sent the message saying that he found the real Kira after Aoyama, correct? Wouldn't that be more than enough proof to say that Light is the greatest suspect for Kira?"_

_"There is no one else that I suspect more, Amelia. But a lack of evidence stands in the way, please remember that."_

_"Shit…and unless Matsuda is a murdering madman, there's no one else to question confidently on being Kira. This damn Light does nothing but piss me off!"_

_"Such anger lately, Amelia. Are you running low on caffeine once more?"_

_"He said my hair looked nice when it's down. The bastard."_

_"Would you have preferred him to have told you that it looked horrendous?"_

_"I'd _prefer_ him to go jump in a moat, but it seems as though I'd have to push him in myself with the way things are going lately."_

_"Yes, but then you would be charged with conspiracy and be taken off the case, and that would do nothing but put you in an even more sour mood towards him. Correct?"_

_"…shit."_

* * *

The second Kira's newly received message stating that he would not meet with the main murderer did but two things for L: confirm that the Kiras had joined forces, and increase his restlessness by a tenfold.

_With every passing second, Kira and the second Kira could be forming a closer bond with each other…I need to make a move in order to gain information on the second Kira's whereabouts…_

"Keeping in mind that Light is the strongest contender in being Kira, shouldn't we narrow down the places that he would have the most opportunity to communicate with others?" Amelia sounded. She sat upon the windowsill in her usual attire of a shapeless knitted sweater, a strange shade of yellow, and a pair of black sweatpants that frayed at the edges in which she had tactlessly severed just above her pale ankles. The obvious tension in her voice told L that she was growing just as restless as he was.

L stabbed at a piece of melon in the porcelain bowl with his fork and stared it down, thinking intently on his recently devised plan. _She will be pleased with this,_ he thought with a smile. "That is correct," he said softly, "which is why you and I shall be paying To-Oh University a visit today."

* * *

Her disguise was more impressive than she imagined it would be.

"I must say, you look quite fair as a blonde, Ms. Amelia," Watari spoke from the open doorway of the bathroom. Having set her wig after much hassle in attempting the feat alone, he had been the first to see her in her new attire, and Amelia found herself inwardly agreeing with the older man as she studied her reflection with an awed approbation. "Fair? Maybe not _that_, but…"

She _did _look rather cordial in her looks once she considered the drastic change that had been applied to her. The wig was an angreeable shade of blonde, one that resembled a crisp honey, and fell just past her shoulders in modest waves. It was her debut in wearing makeup, in which she had managed to apply herself without collapsing in frustration, and she was concerned to find that the newfound femininity in her features pleased her.

She had never considered herself ugly, to be specific…but as she stared wide-eyed into the mirror, she could almost unabashedly claim to be, dare say, _pretty._

The vanity quickly dispeled from the corners of her brain as Amelia turned around to face Watari. "So," she said, hands clasped behind her back, "I want to get this exactly right. I'll be shadowing L from a _distance _today in the case that…" She beckoned for the man to assist her in completing the sentence.

Watari gave her a wise smile and adjusted the bridge of his glasses atop his nose. "In the case that any suspicious activity is recorded of the suspect. It would not be the best move for you to be seen trailing L in the presence of Light Yagami, nor be recognized as your true self by him. It would be quite obvious to him that he is being followed."

"So I'll just be acting like a normal student at a university that I've never been to," Amelia said with a nervous laugh. "The real task of this ordeal is how to act 'normal'."

Watari nodded in respect and chuckled warmly. "I am sure that you will pick up the surrounding students' behavior, Ms. Amelia. Think of this as excellent practice for your growth as a detective."

A smile swelled upon Amelia's lips at Watari's statement and she released a sigh. "So shadowing from a distance, observing any strange behavior from Light, looking out for any weirdos talking to him, and making sure that my wig stays on." She gestured to her faux blonde hair. "He would spot me in a second if this were to flop off."

"Your hair is quite eccentric," Watari said with a good-natured smile, "but I am aware of one person that appreciates it, Ms. Amelia."

Amelia stifled the bubbling chuckle that rose in her chest and widened her eyes subtly. _Appreciates it…? Does L tell him these things or does Watari just assume…? Then again, he i_s_ the only other person that L has ever trusted…I wouldn't be surprised if-_

Her thoughts were pulled back by their string when L appeared beside the elderly man in the doorway, his bed-head hair thoroughly rumpled and the bags beneath his eyes sinking deeper than normal. _Ah, looks as though someone was afraid to sleep after said dream, _Amelia thought as she shot him a glance of welcome.

She pretended not to notice the slight gaping of his lips when he eyed her transformation. It was amusing, to say the least, fizzing up within her stomach in a freshly churned sheepishness. However, just as L's face showed any form of reaction, it was quickly wiped away when he cleared his throat to speak. "We will be departing shortly. Are you in full understanding of the arrangement, Amelia?"

Amelia began to reach for her earlobe to twist but stopped short when she remembered the wig secured upon her head. It would be hell to amend the disguise once more, so she bit her bottom lip and ignored her compulsion to the best of her ability. "Of course. But one question," she added with haste. "Do we have any means of communication during this outing? I must keep a distance, but I also need to be aware of what is happening while you are with Light, correct?"

L hinted at a smile at the corner of his mouth and signaled to Watari with a nod of his head. At the action, Watari returned the nod and exited the bathroom momentarily, then reentered with a small case in his hands. "Ear pieces," L said with a bored simplicity, "one of the most simple means of keeping in contact." He turned his head to Watari, yet kept his gaze firmly focused on Amelia out of the corner of his eyes.

_Exactly as he did the first night I saw him again…weird…_

"Watari," L said quietly, "may you prepare the transportation while Amelia finishes getting ready?"

Amelia immediately caught onto the irony of the statement when she realized that she had been ready for over twenty minutes.

L scratched the back of his head and succeeded in tousling his wayward hair to a comical level. "Well, that's quite an interesting change."

"Is it that monstrous?" Amelia asked, tugging at a strand of the blonde hair and cocking one eyebrow that was concealed by the wig's fringe.

"No, not monstrous," L said with a small smile, "quite the opposite effect, in fact."

Amelia felt her face flush once more and crossed her arms to conceal her flattery. "And if I took it off, the effect would vanish, I suppose?" she asked teasingly.

L cocked his head, still smiling at her. "Not quite. But if you wish to be stubborn enough to refuse the compliment, be my guest." He made a sarcastic welcoming gesture with his hand and bowed slightly to her.

Amelia scoffed, but smiled soon after. "And what would happen if I was to be that stubborn, L?"

_Am I…flirting?...Not possibly, not me…_

A brief flash of sly deliberation shot through L's deep gray eyes and he reached into his pocket. Pulling out one of Amelia's many lollipops and holding it between two lean fingers, he held it out to her delicately. "Then I suppose I would have some work to do, Amelia."

Amelia's mouth gaped open and she accepted her candy with a laugh. "You…you stole my damn lollies!"

"Indeed, I did," L said with a nod, "but for a reason. Will you accept my compliment under these circumstances now?"

Unwrapping the lollipop skillfully, she twisted her lips into a challenging smile. "You're a funny one, L," she cracked, "truly." She flit her eyes up to his and saw that he was eyeing her as she placed the candy in her mouth.

After an awkward second of their eyes scanning each other's, L began to turn away. "Hmm, I've never quite gotten that one before now," he said, his voice trailing off as he walked away.

Amelia stopped him when she said, "Hey!"

L turned back to her with a quietly curious look on his pale face. "Did you forget something already?"

Amelia shifted her weight sheepishly and held up the lollipop. "You just cleared yourself of theft. Congrats."

One corner of L's lips curled into an amused smile and he gave her a nod of approval. The smile quickly morphed into a satisfied smirk and he turned his back to her, walking off slowly. "I aim to please, Amelia."

* * *

_"So I'm in charge of the coordination of capture…that sounds so, I don't know, powerful." _

_"Only if we see someone with a very high likelihood of being the second Kira, and with my cue. Hopefully today will be the day that such happens."_

_"You can say that again. I'm sick of the second Kira almost as much as I am of Kira himself."_

_"Are you only saying that because you strongly dislike Light-kun?"_

_"…shit."_

* * *

_"I'm about to say something quite foolish right about now, so bear with me, ok?"_

L lightly smiled to himself at the sound of Amelia's voice in his earpiece and adjusted the small microphone just beneath his jaw, concealed by the chaos that was his hair. "I suppose I could handle it," he said beneath his breath. He hunched his back, cracking a stiff link of his spine at the action, and cocked his head at a passing group of students eyeing his posture with collective sniggers.

_"I feel pretty damn marvelous right about now, to be honest. Earpiece and all." _The girl chuckled awkwardly and cleared her throat. _"You have no idea."_

"Oh, I believe I may have some idea, Amelia," L responded quietly with a subtle smile. He spotted a small bench and stalked his way towards it, perching himself upon the seat with his hands upon his knees. Deciding that it would be unadvisory to be seen seemingly talking to himself, he placed his thumb within the dip of his lips to mask his slightly moving lips. "Where are you at this moment?"

_"Sitting against that big ass tree by the tech center, reading a book. I can see you from where I am, if that helps." _There was a pause as Amelia released a breathy laugh. _"I must say, you look like a vulture from this distance."_

"How flattering," L said flatly.

_"And there goes my mouth. I'm just saying, your stance is quite the vulturous one in the eyes of a stranger."_

L's eyes scanned the campus thoroughly in search of Light and felt another swelling of impatience when the young man did not come into sight. "I don't exactly consider you as a stranger, Amelia."

_"Hey, I'm blonde now, remember?" _

They shared a quiet laugh, one that would not be noticed by outsiders, and knowing such a thing made the moment all the more relieving. Before he could open his mouth to respond with something witty, his eyes fell upon Light exiting a building by the side of a young woman. "I believe I see Light-kun approaching," he mumbled, tugging at his lip. "Now would be the necessary time to-"

_"I follow you. Moving in."_

He nodded in acknowledgement, merely out of instinct, and kept his eyes focused on the prestigious Light Yagami, whom was chatting with the attractive girl beside him with a skilled charm. The girl absorbed every word, smiling graciously and turning her eyes away from his every few seconds, obviously entranced by his intent stare and warm smile.

"It appears as though Light-kun has a fan club," L muttered for Amelia to hear. He smiled at the image of her grimacing and twisting her earlobe in frustration, a common quirk of hers that he found amusing.

He was not surprised to hear her make a muffled strangled sound in her throat and sigh. _"And I'm sure he soaks it all up, like a big immaculate sponge."_

When Light's eyes caught L's, he took pleasure in the flash of confusion that, needless to say, _glazed_ over Light's expression before he turned to the girl and said a brief farewell. Looking back at L, he gave him a light wave that was only used in order to appear casual to the passing students. L knew quite clearly that the boy was spinning questions in his head as to why the detective was on campus after so many days of being "absent", but he felt a surge of confidence when he realized that Light would be unaware of Amelia's presence on the grounds. Every word that Light would say would reach both Amelia and L's ears.

"Ryuuga? I wasn't expecting a visit from you today," Light said, a customary, well-tailored greeting that L could sear directly through. The fact that he was referring to him as his outside aliases told L that it was automatically an act that Light was careful to keep steady whilst in public.

"Well, I presumed that everyone was beginning to question my vacancy, so I decided to drop by," L said casually. The feat was contradicting when one would see the manner that he was sitting upon the bench, but he was reluctant to alter it and merely looked up at Light with wide eyes. "Besides all of that, how are you doing?"

_"Hmph," _Amelia huffed. L inwardly smiled when he heard her grunt of annoyance.

Light shifted his books into his other arm and waved at a student that said hello to him. _Popular, it seems_, L thought. He kept his face entirely neutral as Light opened his mouth to speak. "I suppose I'm alright. I must say, this place can get pretty boring without you here." He gave L a small smile and flicked a lock of chestnut hair out of his eyes. "But aren't you a little worried about being seen by others? I know you've been talking about isolating yourself again…"

_"Since he's _so_ worried about you," _Amelia muttered sarcastically through L's earpiece.

_This is all a ploy, and both of us know it, _L thought cynically. _Well, I might as well play along, seeing as I initiated this…_

"What would there be to fear when you are the only outsider who knows of my identity? I don't see you as one to gossip, Light-kun," L responded.

Light seemed to mull this over, then nodded subtly. "Good point, Ryuuga."

"While I'm here, I would like to ask you a very serious question, Light-kun."

Light took another step closer to the bench and loosely placed a hand into the pocket of his khakis. "Go ahead."

L cocked his head and stared at him, making sure to keep the contact fixed. There was a brief second in which he wondered how close Amelia was to their location and whether or not she had picked up on the question that he was about to ask their suspect. Having discussed the matter only the previous night, he hoped that she had noticed the cue. "If I were to die within the next few days, how would that affect your likelihood of being Kira?"

Light's eyes widened for a second, then narrowed in irritation soon after. "Ryuuga, why are you bringing this up right now? I thought you were only dropping by, not to interrogate even further."

_"He's on the defense,"_ Amelia said quickly. _"I'm standing by the library."_

_So she's quite close_, L thought. "You didn't answer my question," he said to Light in monotone. "And let's assume that I am just curious as to what your thoughts would be on this. If I died, wouldn't you agree that it would heighten the suspicion that you are Kira since you are the only person outside of the task force that knows that I am L?" L took a moment to bite down on his thumbnail. "Or, let's say, that I am one of the people who _calls _myself L."

_"Nice thinking,"_ Amelia praised quietly within his ear. _"Although he might catch the bluff…"_

Light let out an impatient sigh, but quickly returned to calm. "Since you already suspect me, I can't do anything about that, so I guess I would have to agree," he said cooly. "But since I don't see why you would just suddenly die-"

"Kira is a murderer, Light-kun," L interrupted, "and murderers have the tendency to kill living things."

There was a silent string of moments where Light stared at him, brow furrowed, until L cleared his throat and spoke again. "Well, putting that aside for a moment, it is quite nice to come back here for a day. College is quite the experience."

Light's face relaxed another degree and he shifted his books in his arms once more. "It sure is," he said quietly, "but then again, I haven't found anyone to have an intelligent conversation with since you've been out."

L stood up off the bench and scratched the back of his head. "Would you like to engage in such over cake in the cafeteria, then?" He could have cringed at how foreign his own voice sounded in his ears, but Amelia did the job for him as she snorted back a chuckle through the earpiece.

Light nodded in return and led him away from the bench. "Why not? I need a break anyway."

L rolled his shoulders in an attempt to loosen the sleep-deprived muscles and was rewarded with a hearty crack within the joints. "Are your classes proving to be stressful?" he asked for the sake of the conversation.

Light made a sound that resembled a mixture between a laugh and a jeer and shook his head. "No, I need a break from the boredom is more like it. Sometimes I feel as though I could _teach_ some of the classes I take."

"I'm not entirely surpri-"

Before L could complete his sentence, a high-pitched feminine voice chirped a loud, "LIGHT!"

Both L and Light came to a halt in their walk and turned around to find the culprit of the piping declaration of the young man's name. The moment that a petite, golden-haired girl came into their view, she seemed to be the appropriate person to have done so.

She was painfully beautiful, greatly resembling a china doll perched upon a high shelf after having been groomed and painted into the smiling prize belonging to a young child. She was clad in all black, lace and silk, almost inappropriately clinging to her body, and the short dress she wore had either been paid for with her looks or by someone who greatly admired them.

The girl was beaming at Light as if he were the very god that she bowed to.

"My photo shoot was close to here, so I thought there would be nothing better than to come and see you!" She stood up on the tips of her toes and wiggled in glee before catching sight of L, whom was staring incredulously at her. "Hey, who's this?" she twittered, referring to L with a flick of her blonde head. "He's so…" She cocked her head severely, almost completely ninety degrees, and scrunched up her face as she studied him. "Different!"

_"I take it that she's a_ friend_ of Light's? That's interesting,"_ Amelia murmured. _"I can see her from where I'm at."_

The girl currently gaping at L as if he were a test subject straightened in her posture and held out her hand to him, still smiling with grandeur. "Well, I'm Misa Amane, Light's girlfriend! Nice to meet you, stranger!" Her honey eyes twinkled with excitement; from what, even L was unsure. He had never seen someone so enthusiastic to be living as she was.

L stared at her hand in confusion, uncertain as to why she was offering it to him. "Hideki Ryuuga," he said, still not accepting her hand. _Why would this girl suddenly appear here on this exact day, so soon after the events at Aoyama and the second Kira's messages…? And why would Light be seeing so many girls at once if…could it be that this is the second Kira…?_

Misa's face quickly shifted to confusion, even abnormally so, and she furrowed her fair brows as she contemplated his face. "Huh? But-"

Light's hand immediately clasped down on her shoulder and he pulled her towards him. Misa gazed up at her "boyfriend" for an answer to the question currently in her eyes, but it quickly softened when Light held her by the shoulders. "Yeah, the same name as that pop singer that you like so much, right?" he said with a smooth chuckle. "That's what I thought at first, too."

L's eyes remained unchanging on the glittering blonde before him. _It would all make sense…being close to Light, the most likely suspect as to being Kira…appearing so soon after the Sakura messages from the second Kira...and being a model would make her very well known in these areas…_

_"Misa Amane?"_ Amelia asked thoughtfully. _"Well, she's small enough to be a model, that's for sure."_

_That's it…the second Kira…Misa Amane…that's it!_

L allowed a smile to stretch upon his lips as she leered closer at the girl. "Light-kun, consider yourself a lucky man."

Misa's eyes widened before she took a step back away from him. "Um…"

"I've always admired your work, Amane-san," L added with a wider grin. He heard Amelia crack into muffled laughter at his phrase, having obviously caught onto the irony laced beneath it.

Misa clapped her elfin hands together and gasped in delight, performing a quick little twirl in the midst of her excitement. "Really? Yay, I'm so happy now!"

_She wasn't happy enough to begin with…?_

"Hey, it's Misa Misa!"

"Wow, is it really?"

"She's so pretty!"

At the sudden flush of students exiting classes, a choral ode of admiration towards the blonde model erupted around the three. L was pushed with the current of the moving students surrounding Misa until he was behind her, and was brough back to alert when he heard Amelia speak.

_"Her cell phone. I can see it peeking out of her purse. If she's the second Kira, then…"_

_Then she would be able to contact Light-kun,_ L thought quickly. _And we most certainly cannot have that right now…_

He fluidly reached his fingers into the girl's purse behind her and removed the pink cell phone loosely wedged between a wallet and a tube of lipstick. Much to his dismay, he inadvertently grazed Misa's bottom when withdrawing his hand, and she whipped around to look at the growing crowd behind her.

"Someone totally just felt me up!" she screeched. "Which one of you is a pervert?!"

_"Looks like you're a pervert now, huh?" _Amelia mockingly chided with a chuckle.

Thinking fast, L pulled his hand behind him and wheeled his way around in front of Misa. "This young woman is correct!" he announced. "Such perversion in deplorable, a filthy action for someone to do! They should be ashamed!"

In spite of the guffaws that L could sense around him, Misa covered her mouth with her hand and giggled like a child. "I like you, Ryuuga! You're funny!" She giggled again, only to be cut short by a towering, angular-faced woman tugging her by the arm. Misa looked up at her, suddenly feeble and embarrassed in her presence, and looked down at the ground.

"Are you planning on being late to a shoot again, Misa? Let's go!" the woman scolded harshly.

Misa nodded quickly and allowed herself to be yanked away from the crowd by the woman. "Y-yeah, sorry!" she stuttered. Looking back at Light, she blew him a kiss and waved frantically at him. "Buh-bye, Light sweetie! I'll talk to you soon!"

Once the girl was out of sight, the audience dissipated with disappointed grumbles, leaving both Light and L alone once again.

_She has to be the second Kira…the circumstances are far too perfect for her not to be…emotionally attached to Light, she would be willing to follow any orders concerning Kira's wishes…that's it!_

"Well, that was just a touch above overwhelming," L said quietly. He was relieved that he was not caged by a chirping band of college students any longer, as ironic as it was that he was possibly facing Kira himself.

Light nodded and straightened out the hem of his shirt, his eyes not upon L's. "Sure was," he agreed.

After a moment of awkward silence, L cleared his throat and began walking away from the young man. "Well, I suppose I'll be on my way to class after that little endeavor."

Light looked up at him now with his face still managing to be in complete control. When L noticed that his hair was now slightly rumpled, he bit back a smirk of amusement at the image of Amelia beaming with pride at sneering at the Yagami son. "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. I'll see you later, I have to use the bathroom."

_"Tell me the moment that you're alone when to do it…" _Amelia said. _"She seems like a pretty good contender." _There was a lilt of exhilaration in her words that told L that she was as confident as he was that the second Kira had just been dragged away by her manager right before his eyes. He parted with Light, and after a few more meters, he finally responded to Amelia beneath his breath. "Amelia. Now is the time to send the others out."

_"I'll call you when we have her in custody. Do you have her phone? I couldn't see in the midst of all that fanclubbing."_

L dug his fists in his pockets and continued walking away slowly. "I have her phone, and currently waiting for Light-kun to give her a call…"

He heard Amelia huff out a pleased laugh. _"We both deserve a hell of a slice of cake after this one."_

L smiled softly at her statement. It was entirely true that the plan had worked closer to perfection than either had expected, and the leap that the investigation had made within minutes of meeting the chipper Misa Amane only heightened L's assurance in both himself and the auburn comrade that he had become fascinated with.

A jingling that sounded from his pocket confirmed him that the plan was a success. He fished out the confiscated cell phone and smiled deviously, flipping it open and holding it away from his face between his thumb and pointer finger. "…Yes?"

When no response came from Light on the other line, L smirked deeper and cocked his head. "Hello?"

"I thought you of all people would know that stealing phones is illegal," Light said in a grave tone.

_It's also illegal to commit murder, Light-kun…_

"On the contrary, Light-kun, I did not steal this phone but merely picked it up off the ground after someone dropped it," L replied, battling Light's equanimity with his own composure. While it was true that he was a brilliant detective, he was also a silky liar when the situation called for him to be one…or at least whenever in the presence of Light Yagami.

"Well, that's Misa's phone, so I can give it back to her when I see her again. Mind giving it to me, Ryuuga?"

"Of course."

They met halfway in the distance between them and L held the phone out to him to accept. Light took the phone and placed it in his pocket, his eyes narrowed on L's the entire time. Before either could speak again, he heard his own phone alert him in his front pocket.

_Lovely timing, Amelia…_

"Understood. Thank you," he said quickly before hanging up. He wiped the satisfied smirk off his lips before looking up at Light. "I'm very sorry to tell you this, Light-kun, but your girlfriend has been captured and is now in custody under suspicions of being the second Kira."  
Judging by the stunned expression on Light's face, L had the notion that this was not what the young man had in his plans.

"Light-kun? I'm sure this a shock to hear of someone you care about being in such a position, but the action was necessary," L elaborated. "While I can't exactly relate to a situation like this-"

"Yes, Ryuuga. Of course," Light interjected sharply. "Where do you suggest I go from here?"

L blinked, confused by the question. "Home, to be preferred. Headquarters would not be appropriate for the time being."

_All in all, Light…I do not _want_ you at headquarters…now that your comrade has been captured, only time will tell how you will go about your actions from here…_

As Light departed, L observed the manner that his knuckles turned whitewashed in his grip of his books. _I'm sure this is just another test for you, Light-kun…whether or not it will be as difficult to play is up to Amane-san at the moment…_

Seconds passed in which L merely stood and watched the potential Kira stalk off before he heard the low voice of Amelia within his ear.

_"L…I…I believe we have just caught the real second Kira."_

* * *

**Referring back to Amelia's line of "I'll pull an Oedipus and gouge my eyes out" pertains to the Greek play **_**Oedipus Rex**_**, in which the main character gouges his eyes out after he learns some pretty rotten stuff about his life…it's a brilliant play, and the line was just too perfect not to use it.**

**I hope this chapter turned out satisfactory, seeing as I finally get to incorporate Misa into it!**

**Please review!**


	20. Distortion

**This chapter was…hell. Hell, I tell you. In fact, I nearly lost my mind writing it. But alas, it is finally here after much strife and coffee!**

**There is quite a bit of sexual material in this chapter…it's time to delve into one of L's sinful dreams, as well as much more…**

**I don't own Death Note. **

* * *

"It just keeps getting more and more apparent, doesn't it?" Amelia softly marveled. She stood between Matsuda and Aizawa by the coffee table, holding up a small bag that contained fibers of Misa Amane's clothing. "Everything fits…"

"We're unlocking more evidence as we go," Aizawa said, "and we've found more materials that match those found in the tapes sent to Sakura TV." He glanced up at Amelia, and much to her surprise, smiled. "I think we've found our girl."

With the police having searched Misa Amane's room immediately following the girl's arrest, it would be an understatement to say that Amelia was not joyous with the grand leap that the investigation had taken in the course of three hours. _If Misa Amane is what we're looking for, the second Kira, it would be the exact support that I would need to say that Light Yagami is Kira…with close relations to him, it would all make sense…_

"Have they confined her yet?" Amelia asked aloud, placing the bag down on the table and examining a new one.

"Yeah, but we don't know exactly where she is right now," Matsuda said with uncertainty.

Amelia turned her head to look at him, confused. "You don't know? Then who put her in confinement…?"

"All we know," Aizawa interposed, "is that Watari is with her, and that she's in some form of isolation. When Ryuzaki returns, I guess we'll find out then." The officer sighed and took a few steps away from the table, rubbing his temples. "At least we have a lead now, though."

"Good point," Amelia mumbled, distracted by the thought of where Misa had been taken to. She was desperate to speak with her, to learn more of Kira's methods since she was confident that the second Kira was now in confinement, but a lack of information on Misa's whereabouts did nothing but frustrate her.

When the door opened, Amelia snapped her attention to it to see who was entering and felt a rush of relief at the sight of L, disheveled and clearly impatient. His eyes caught hers for a second, and a weak hint of a smile appeared upon one corner of his mouth before sighing and approaching his chair. "Watari," he spoke into the microphone of the laptop, "has Amane spoken yet?"

A sigh was resounded from the laptop on Watari's end. "No, Ryuzaki. In fact, she has not made any sign of complaint concerning her arrest. She has been completely silent."

Amelia made her way over to L's armchair and tugged at her earlobe. "Nothing at all?" she said softly to herself. _Almost as if she expected it…why would anyone under these circumstances remain completely staid?...Is she being controlled by Kira to be silent in order not to leak information regarding Kira's methods of murder?..._

"Lise-san," L addressed from beside her, crouching in his chair.

"Yes?"

He hesitated before nodding once in her direction. "Very nice work today," he said simply. A further evaluation of his face on Amelia's part would tell her that he was smiling faintly behind the concealing thumb pressed against his lips.

Amelia resisted the urge to chuckle awkwardly and nodded, careful to keep her professioin in check in spite of the raging pride swelling within her stomach. "Thank you, Ryuzaki. Likewise," is what came from her mouth, but her thoughts were in another region at his words.

_Gah…yay…_

"Watari, please send me the visuals," L ordered.

"Yes."

Within two seconds, the live feed of Misa Amane strapped to an upright metal lath filled the screen of the laptop, as well as the startled gasps from the throats of the task force. Her arms were crossed in a strait jacket contraption, and her chest was restrained by a series of severe bands that held her in place. A thick, sturdy belt was wedged uncomfortably between her legs, causing the girl to be completely immobile. The eyes that had once been smiling and bright were shielded by a gleaming, steel blindfold that spanned from each side of her head.

Amelia felt no guilt at the sight, strangely enough.

_She killed Ukita…not to mention all of those innocent newscasters in some sick attempt to send Kira a messge…if she is the second Kira, which is most likely the case seeing as there is evidence, then how else were we supposed to go about this…?_

She found it impossible to feel sympathy towards a murderer, however charming and cute the girl happened to be.

She turned to Aizawa. "Exactly how much evidence do we have at the moment?"

The man looked back to the table with the material slides and ran his hand along his stubble absentmindedly. "Just about everything we need, besides fingerprints. Clothing fibers, the same paper as the diary sent, the ink on the envelopes, ticket stub…"

"Ticket stub?"

"The Sakura TV tapes were sent from Nagano, and we found a ticket stub to Nagano among her possessions from the same day as the date the tapes were received," Aizawa explained.

Amelia tugged at her earlobe and stared at the image of Misa on the laptop, pinned and silent. "Which means that there will be security footage of the train station…"

"We currently have Mogi collecting the footage for us to analyze," Aizawa continued, earning a nod of approval from Amelia. She sat down on the floor in front of the armchair occupied by L and observed Misa on the screen. _Still no words…not even a single complaint…?_

"Where is Light?" she asked with a professional mask of her own hopefulness. _Hopefully far, far away…_

L looked down at her briefly and smirked, obviously knowing her mindset. "I have forbidden him from entering and exiting here as he pleases, for the sake of our suspicions," he told her. He turned his attention to Soichiro, whom stood by Matsuda on the other side of the room. "Please be aware that Light-kun will be known as a prime suspect and called in for questioning, Yagami-san. This occurrence is far too crucial for us to ignore our own notions of him being Kira."

Amelia turned to see Soichiro's pained face and felt the surge of pity that had been absent when looking upon Misa. This man, although the father of the person that made her cringe in annoyance, had always had her respect for his calm and genuine nature. In spite of her thoughts on Light being Kira, she was forced the understand the older man's displeasure at having his son being a key suspect.

Unsure of what to say to him, she turned back around and studied the blonde girl on the laptop.

_There has to be some way of getting her to talk…any possible way…she seemed to be talking up a storm with Light and L earlier today…but how do I-_

Looking around the room, she immediately noted the quandary.

_All men…maybe she would talk if I-_

She spent no more time thinking upon possible schemes and stood up off the floor, her motive clear in her mind. "Where are we keeping her, Ryuzaki?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

L looked up at her with inquiry clear in his eyes. When Amelia widened her own eyes as means of an explanation, he seemed to catch onto her actions and nodded subtly. "Room 132," he said simply. "I will notify Watari of your arrival."

His words held no emotion, but his eyes possessed a form of absorption that Amelia found herself questioning with zeal. _He must have been expecting me to do this…that I would step up and talk to Misa under the slight chance that she will open up…dammit…always one step ahead, L…_

Her frustration was shortlived. They were on the same page once more, having the same plan in mind, and knowing so only strengthened her resolve as she gave him a quick smile of approval and exited the suite, earning a curious glance from Aizawa on her way out.

Her light footsteps down the hall of the hotel were returned with the telltale feeling of both apprehension and desperation deep within her gut. _They'll all see me with Misa in this room…if I can't get her to talk, then how will anyone else?...I highly doubt that Misa would prefer talking to one of them as opposed to someone her own gender…she seems like the type of person that would…_

Amelia gave a firm rap on the door and was promptly greeted by Watari, whom nodded and led her in. "Thank you for coming, Ms. Amelia," he said quietly. "Please keep in mind to use your professional name in the presence of Ms. Amane, for safety's sake."

Amelia gave a small smile of recognition and followed him through the suite. _He used my real name…there must not be any cameras installed in this room…_

The pleasant white that the door was painted with betrayed the ominous situation, and Amelia found herself biting back an ironic scoff at the realization. Not only was she about to interrogate a young woman whom appeared as though she had never heard of the word "evil", but whom was now certainly the second Kira, thus contradicting the previous judgment quite bluntly.

She walked in, acutely aware of her hands trembling.

Misa Amane. Strapped, restrained, and completely silent against the unforgiving slat of metal behind her back, made no reaction when the door was firmly closed behind the two entering. Amelia wiped her palms off on her thighs and took a calming breath before thinking, _She can't see your face, she can't see your face…but just how long is she going to be kept here in confinement anyway…? Dammit, don't think about that, you'll get a hernia…just focus on why you're here and that's it…if she says anything, it'll be one step closer…_

She turned her head to Watari, still wary of her own motives, and was given a reassuring nod and a small, but knowing, smile in return. _Come on, Lasswell, do this…it's not like she's telepathic or any of that shit…_

With a hard swallow, she took a few more steps to the upright girl and cleared her throat. "Ms. Amane, I'm Lise Murray, part of the Kira investigation force," she said with a grimace. She sounded like an demoralized child with her quaking voice, so she took another firm swallow to steady herself. "Considering that you have ultimately been captured as the second Kira, it would be quite, um, useful for you to speak on behalf of, er, gaining information on the real Kira."

_Oh, you _idiot! _Just talk to her, for God's sake! Stop stuttering like a dupe and just get her to give us some clues already!..._

When the blonde remained stone-faced, Amelia was confirmed that her opening statement had had its neck brutally wrung with failure. She remembered that the task force, as well as L, was currently watching her from the other side of the laptop, she clenched her fists in nuisance. Her dignity, in which was hanging above her eyes for her to prod and cringe at, would be scathed if she were to fumble to the ground in the midst of interrogating this girl.

She stepped forward and pushed her doubts farther into the back of her head. "Ms. Amane, what was your purpose for being in Aoyama on the 22nd?"

The question came out much smoother than her previous words, and she mentally pat herself on the back for avoiding any embarrassing "um's" or "er's". Nevertheless, there was a solid silence that grated at her newfound satisfaction of speaking coherently until it was nothing but a glimmering shard in her hands. Amelia waited another beat before attempting again.

"Was it that you had already arranged a meeting with the true Kira, or that you knew that the messages would be televised and seen by him?"

Silence. Complete and utter silence.

_Shit...this is getting annoying…just stay calm, or else you'll scare her out of talking…_

"What about your means of sending the tapes to Sakura TV? Why make your move at this time instead of, say, a month from now, Ms. Amane?"

The girl shivered slightly against the plank, but made no effort to respond. Amelia clenched her fists until her nails nearly broke the skin of her palms. _How much more fucking time can she spend being completely quiet…? _

* * *

_I'm surprised she's maintained her patience this long…_

L dug his fork into the slice of cake before him and watched the slumped figure of Amelia on the laptop. She was sitting against the wall, her head bowed with her fingers through her hair, and L found himself snapping to attention every time she would look up and begin to speak.

_"Ms. Amane…it's been over an hour of my questioning…can you speak even just a yes or no to any of them?"_

Although Amelia could not see, L gave her a sympathetic smile and sighed deeply before accepting his forkful of cake. _I give her credit for trying this long…without killing her barehanded…_

"Lise sure does have patience, doesn't she, Ryuzaki?" Matsuda piped from behind him. His chirpy voice caused L to jump slightly in his chair and he swallowed his mouthful of cake, wheeling around a potential choking episode in front of the entire task force. He kept his eyes on the screen and mumbled, "More than anyone I know."

Matsuda did not catch onto the sarcasm in his statement and laughed good-naturedly. "She sure is nice. Have you guys been friends - oh, I mean 'investigatory partners', for a long time now?"

The question inspired L to either laugh or scoff, neither in which he did, but he cleared his throat and buried the prongs of his fork into the thick icing of his cake. _Amelia and I have had a strong connection for an unprecidented amount of time, Matsuda, _he thought, smiling to himself. _In fact, the rope that we are treading upon will soon break…_

This, of course, he did not say. He merely kept his gaze fixed on the laptop and said, "Lise-san has proven to be quite the talented one over the time I have worked with her, Matsuda."

He had cleverly beelined around the question, and Matsuda seemed satisfied.

* * *

Amelia had lost track of time before she opened her mouth to mutter out another useless question. "Ms. Amane…is my presence here entirely useless? Will you ever-"

The girl whimpered, her hands trembled. It was a _sound._

Amelia bolted upright in her sitting position against the wall and stared at her as if she were an extraterrestrial being. "Misa?" she asked, ignoring the respectful address that she had been using for her. "Misa, do you have anything to say?"

Just when the sparkle of hope flickered in Amelia's blood, it gradually chilled as Misa pursed her lips tightly and returned to a motionless state.

_Fuck…fuckity fuck…she's already captured! There's no use in being quiet about anything now, Misa!_

A brief bout of anger overcame her and she spat out, "Do you think that being silent will make us let you go, Misa?"

"Lise-san."

It was L speaking to her from the laptop, and she sighed before looking over. "Yes?" she said tiredly, her arms hanging between her knees. She puffed a piece of hair out of her mouth and stared at the laptop, as if looking directly at L himself.

"Please return to headquarters. Watari will monitor Amane-san for the time being."

She was not sure whether to feel relieved or dreadfully disappointed, but stood up anyway. She stole a final glance of disorder at the stationary blonde before exiting the room.

* * *

The only words that Amelia huffed out at her return were, "Well, I tried."

L turned his head to her as she approached him, sourfaced and disheveled, and held out a plate lavished with shortcake to her. "I am well aware of that, Lise-san. Cake?"

Amelia mustered a small smile and nodded, accepting the plate. She sat down upon the floor in her usual spot, right in front of his chair, and faced him with a grudging expression on her fair face. "I don't understand the girl's mindset at all," she muttered. "It's not like her confinement will be ended by her not talking. Stupid…"

"Then we will just restrain her until she does, Lise-san," he said simply, his fork in his mouth. "I'm not entirely surprised that she is silent, in fact."

Amelia furrowed her brow. "Surely you are frustrated, though."

"Oh, of course I'm frustrated," he said after swallowing his shortcake. He glanced down at her, seeing her staring up at him pryingly, and gave her a teasing smile. "But my temper is not quite as boisterous as yours, don't you agree?"

Amelia cocked an auburn eyebrow at him, one of her customary expressions that he had grown to find amusement out of. She had done it since she was a child; a very sharp, perturbed child, nevertheless, but he enjoyed seeing it upon her face now that they were adults. "I don't believe you _have_ a temper, Ryuzaki."

L thought upon that for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "I suppose everyone has a temper, Lise-san, but it is more of how easily stimulated it is." He fooled with a cluster of crumbs upon his plate with the prongs of his fork and cocked his head, pondering the subject. "You, for example, compared to me on terms of frustration would be a ratio of about 1 to…well, a very large number." With a decisive nod, he placed the empty plate upon the coffee table and gave her an innocent gaze, waiting for her response.

"A very large number," Amelia said flatly.

"Mm, yes."

"Mind being a smidge more eloquent?"

L twirled his fork between his fingers and stifled a sarcastic laugh, one that he knew would make her leap at him and claw his eyes out of their sockets. "You just said 'smidge', Lise-san. I do not feel the need to be eloquent now." He humored himself with the manner in which Amelia pursed her lips and lidded her eyes in annoyance, and took the opportunity to continue in his brigade. "And yes, a very, _very_ large number indeed. Exponential, even."

"Go smidge yourself, Ryuzaki," Amelia said beneath her breath, just loud enough for L to hear.

"Yes, you would enjoy that, wouldn't you?" he quipped, dropping his voice an octave to disturb her calm just that much more. When he saw her head snap over to him, he made sure to turn his attention back to the screen of the laptop quickly, his lips curled into an obscure smile.

Amelia sat upright and reached over to L's hand in which held the fork. "I most certainly would not," she retorted. She snatched the utensil out of his hand and smirked. "But you, on the other hand, that's a different story."

L watched as the girl dug the fork that had once been his into her own slice of cake. "I fail to see your point," he said with a tilting of his head.

"Oh, nothing," Amelia sighed out. "Besides, I find self-manipulation abominable. Or dreadfully hilarious, one of those."

When the meaning of her words sank in to L, he found himself flushing in his cheeks; a rarity for him. "Ah, yes," he said, masking his discomfiture, "and unsanitary."

"And depraved."

"Wanton."

"Not to mention outlandish."

There was a silence before Amelia snorted out a laugh. "This whole conversation is outlandish, if anything is."

"It wasn't my intention to be so, Lise-san," L responded calmly. "It was you who initiated the sexual talk."

Amelia seemed to think upon that for a second before shaking her head. "Maybe. But you could have changed the subject at any time."

The two stared at the other, searching and challenging as always. L took notice of the light freckles that made their debut down the bridge of her narrow nose and along the flush of her cheeks; something in him longed to touch them to see if they would scatter along her skin into a new pattern, or perhaps float down to the floor for Matsuda to trip over.

Amelia's voice brought him back to the surface. "And since you didn't, I take it that I won."

"Won what, exactly?"

Amelia turned her eyes away from him, grinning madly at her cake. She released a titter of a chuckle from her lips before saying, in between laughs, "I got Ryuzaki to talk about masturbation. That's the greatest victory I have ever had."

* * *

Night fell, chilled and hushed, outside the hotel windows, binding itself around the city until it bled through the glass and fogged the suite in darkness. No task force member rose to flick on a lamp for lighting; the energy had dispeled from their bodies into the air, and sleep consumed their occupations in such quiet dusk.

Misa Amane still had not uttered a word. There had been no whispered confessions, no

screams of anguish, no lonesome tears or whimpered pleads for release. Not one clue or piece of greatly needed evidence had floated beyond the girl's lips since her moment of internment; the most that they had gotten was a shiver and a minute whine when Amelia had paid her an unsuccessful and potentially pointless visit.

Only Amelia and L fought the temptation of slumber, but the battle was growing much more difficult as the silent minutes passed.

"Here, you look like you need this," Amelia mumbled as she held out a fourth cup of

coffee to L. It was more than obvious that she was on the brink of losing consciousness and submitting to the bliss of sleep, but L inwardly praised her for prolonging her own attempt longer than the remaining task force had.

L gently took the steaming mug from her hands and whispered, "I believe you do as well."

The detective shook her head weakly before leaning against the side of his chair. "I'll just fight it out and sleep when it's more appropriate." She pulled her hair up off her neck, as if overheated, and squinted her eyes shut for a second. "Besides, I'm afraid I would pass out on the way to the bathroom. Makes me pee too much, you know, coffee."

L knew her uninhibited speech was due to her weariness and he cracked a smile with one corner of his mouth. "That's unfortunate," he said softly.

"Yeah, not as unfortunate as Misa not talking," Amelia said with a watered down rancor. Her sleepiness was taking the edge off her words, making their perimeters less garish, and L found himself enjoying the softness in her voice, smiling nevertheless at the bitterness lurking beneath the words. If her words were not intended to be sharp in their tone, it would not be Amelia Lasswell speaking them.

"I won't bother telling you to be patient with this." L dropped a handful of sugar cubes into his coffee and retrieved the spoon from the coffee table.

"Good," Amelia sighed out. "That would be pointless."

The two studied the laptop in which Misa Amane was shown upon, and neither were surprised to see her head slumped over, seemingly asleep.

"Looks as though we really are the only ones awake in this place," Amelia said distractedly. "Makes me wonder why."

L stirred his coffee until he was satisfied and held the mug in front of his face, feeling the steam rise from the surface and take refuge upon his lips. "Because under the slight chance that Misa does speak any moment, we wish to be awake when it happens?"

Amelia took her pale earlobe between her fingertips and tugged. "Nah," she said, "because I highly doubt that she'll give us that liberty. That would be too helpful of her." She released a tired sigh and released her hair from her fist. "I probably scared her off from talking anyway."

"I disagree. I thought that you held your patience far longer than my expectations believed you would," L replied.

Amelia turned her eyes to his and hinted at a smile, but cleared her throat and looked away once more. "I managed not to lose it all too much, I guess."

The exhaustion was beginning to settle within L's limbs in a heavy haze, but he made no effort to shake it off. He had long grown accustomed to being divested of sleep for many years; in his childhood, he had taken up the practice of hiding in the corner of the orphanage library with an encyclopedia of law and its endless regulations until the early hours of the morning, when the maids would find him absorbed within the pages and send him back to his room sternly.

In the early days of their so-called "friendship", Amelia would be another derelict child sneaking down the corridors into the library to find her own reading material for the night, possibly to stow away in her room until all were completed. Them being the only two in the library at such late hours caused her to ultimately find him in the aisle of bookshelves, staring at him as if she had discovered a new species of animal. It would soon be found that the strange girl was just as doting towards the notion of justice as L was, and something that was not quite camaraderie, not quite anything definite in either's terms was created between bookshelves and a shared lacking of proper social skills.

It had all been quite some time ago, but it lingered in the fusion of their memories their heads enough to be the foundation of their sprouting relationship.

"You're nodding off."

L jerked his head back up at Amelia's reporting. "I'm sorry. It seems as though I'm-"

"You need sleep," she said, strangely tender in her voice. "Let me keep watch on the girl while you take a power nap. It would do you good. Watari is surely awake in Misa's confinement room as well, just in case she starts to talk."

L hesitated in his response due to his sudden enchantment at the sight of her. The glow from the laptop shone against the normally dark blue of her eyes, morphing them into a bright cerulean, and lay a fine dust of wraithlike white against the side of her face that was touched by the dim light from the screen.

His hesitance must have stretched for too long, for Amelia sighed and spoke again. "It'll be fine. Just sleep for a half hour or so and then come back to life for me, alright? Deal?"

She shifted her weight, causing the light to fall from her face, but the hex was not broken. L, however, had regained his enough of his wits to at last respond with, "That will suffice for now. Yes."

He watched as Amelia's lips lifted in a diminutive smile just before his exhaustion stole his attention once more. His eyelids grew heavy and his head bobbed downwards, but he felt a warm hand beneath his chin that lifted his head back up to rest against the cushion of the armchair. He fluttered his eyes open briefly to see a glowing Amelia removing her hand from his chin and biting upon her bottom lip just before he closed his eyes again.

* * *

_The room was wrapped entirely in white silk._

_A serene white, the most tranquil pale, and warm silk that swallowed L's mind into a blurry vapor._

_Where was he? It did not matter, for he was unable to think any further past the fact that he was cradled in a warmth, such a silken warmth, and all he could do was feel. Feel the space around him, feel her hand gliding along his cheek, his neck…_

_It was this feathery touch that was the most soothing in this void of contented heat, and he relished it with a sigh from his lips. He knew no words, he could not see anything clearly; all was a pleasant, pleasant blur in his eyes, and he was bare to her. _

_Completely, unabashedly bare. _

_Her lips replaced her fingertips along his heated skin, kissing along his pulse. "L," she whispered, "how does it feel?"_

_Beautiful. But the words failed to reach his lips. His world was a speechless cloud of calm, of a tingling pleasure that followed wherever her touch led to. He reached out to her, searching for the donor of what was drifting through the ravines of his bloodstream._

_L knew it was her. He wanted to say her name and let it waft within his mouth, feel it skip across his tastebuds and kiss the air, but he was so wonderfully drowsy and dissolved before her that it was impossible to do so. _

_Her hand stroked down his chest in sync with her lips roaming his neck. "L…L…"_

_She was whispering his name, each time laced with a gentle kiss on an exposed inch of his skin, and he felt himself lifting off of the silk that embraced him until he sat upright in front of her. A soft laugh resounded in his ears before she claimed his lips, so gentle, so loving, that he managed to utter a single syllable of her name through the kiss before sinking deeper into the trance. _

_Amelia…_

_Through heavily curtained eyes, he watched her misty form retreat from the kiss and touch his chest with her warm palms. "Lay down for me…L…"_

_L obeyed, intoxicated, and returned to the magnolia silk, feeling something feathery brush against his stomach. A blind searching with his hand told him that it was her hair as she swept herself along the entire length of his abdomen. A silent moan fell past his lips when a newfound warmth grazed between his legs and dipped lower. She leaned in to his ear and breathed out, "Let me…"_

_She sank herself down upon him, and all was lost in this white silk, this reverie of molten pleasure that erupted from her descend upon his desperate arousal. He felt her fingers weaving into his hair softly as he gently pushed himself up deeper into her, earning a quivering moan from her lips in response. When she began to move, slowly and unrestricted along his length, he stroked along her hips and pulled her closer to his body until she was flat against his chest. Everything was so infinitely smoldering, yet so endlessly white and sleek around their lovemaking, and her heat encasing his brought them to an ecstacy unknown to strangers, to anyone but the two as she skated tightly along his length. _

_The blur was evaporating in his eyes until he could see her flushed face before him, and he rolled her over onto her back so that he hovered above her with his arms tightly bound around her back. "L," she whispered against his swollen lips, "yes, L…"_

_He would make this woman his…he would make her gasp and arch herself up to him in this glorious space of complete creamy white, because he loved her, he loved her, he needed her…_

_With a swift push of his hips, he buried himself deeper into her damp heat and allowed a gasp to sound from his throat. Her legs were wrapping around his slender waist, forcing him to drive impossibly profound into her, and he returned her plea with a withdrawal and a desperate thrust back into her. "Yes," she hissed into his ear, curving her spine so that her chest was exposed to him in its diffident fullness. "Yes, L…"_

_He bowed his head to lavish the softness of her breasts with his trembling lips, thrusting harder into her until a divine frenzied pace enveloped the two lovers, quick enough to drag out frantic gasps from both, yet slow enough to feel the full extent of their motions before another plunge was delivered. _

_The blur was fading, as well as his own muteness. Her name boiled in his throat, rose to his mouth and soared from his lips in a ragged moan. He reached back to his waist in which her legs were wrapped around and pushed at her knees, spreading her legs father apart and granting himself the delicious access of her depth. He shuddered and dipped his head to nuzzle against her neck. His jaw dropped ajar at the unearthly pleasure that shot through his entire being at the shift in position and his ears rang with another sweet moan from the woman beneath him. _

_"L…L…"_

_Amelia…Amelia…he loved her, he loved her, he _loved her…

* * *

He was a restless sleeper, to say the least.

When Misa made no hints of stirring or sound, Amelia took the opportunity to observe the sleeping L beside her in the armchair. His power nap had been lengthened to a full hour, one in which she felt his body was fraught for, and after a quick dash for a fresh cup of tea, she had began to relish the detective in his most trusting, innocent state.

Was he having a nightmare? He was twitching as if he was and would occasionally make a peculiar whimpering sound in his throat, one that Amelia found endearing in its own rareness. How often was she able to see him reduced to a child when he was so hellbent on remaining stone-cold staid in her presence?

His lips were trembling…just as they had when they had shared their first feverish kiss.

When his breathing became violent and erratic, Amelia furrowed her brow in concern. _Must be one hell of a nightmare…as if he can't wake up from it…_

She took this as her cue to place a hand on his shoulder and shake him, at first gently, but eventually quite roughly when he would not open his eyes. Sighing, she leaned in to his ear and ordered, "Ryuzaki. Wake up."

Amelia was barely able to complete her declaration before he snapped to attention and turned his head to her, his warm breath upon her lips.

Two inches. Two inches was all it took for their lips to meet, but neither moved.

Why did he look so petrified? Why was there a thin bead of sweat clinging to his temple? Why were his lips still trembling? Why was he…looking at her like _that_?

"L?" she whispered.

_God, just kiss me already…we both want it…but why are you staring at me like I'm a monster…?_

"L," she said more firmly, keeping her voice minute so as to not wake the task force. "What's wrong?"

Just when L appeared to be on the brink of answering her, he rapidly turned away from her and looked back at the laptop. He pulled his knees closer to his chest and tugged at his bottom lip. "You may have your shift of sleep if you wish," he said quickly.

_Is he…is he shivering…? What the hell…?_

Timidly, she reached out to him and placed her fingertips upon his warm neck. His eyelids fluttered for a brief moment before he jerked away from her touch, almost huddling in the corner of the chair. Amelia stared in disbelief at him and retreated her hand back to her side. "I'm…sorry?"

"Please," he said, "you need to rest." He was now pulling at his lip so hard that Amelia was concerned he would rip it clean off his face. He shifted his weight again in his chair, and she heard a nearly inaudible groan of discomfort, or perhaps pain…she could not entirely tell.

"And _you_ need to take some deep breaths, or at least tell me what's wrong. Someone hack

you to death in your dream or something?"

L quickly shook his head, skewering his eyes shut irritably. "Nothing is wrong. Now, you need to sleep. It wouldn't be fair if I had and you hadn't, so…yes. Sleep."

His sentences were short, broken fragments through choppy breaths, and Amelia was well aware of the flush upon his cheeks that betrayed all possible calmness that he normally possessed.

_What the…huh?_

"You expect me to sleep when you're acting like _this_?" she asked, her eyes round. "I'm almost afraid to."

L seemed to mull this over and opened his eyes. With a quick side glance over to her, he said, "Whatever you wish. Perhaps it would be best for you to stay awake if the thought of sleeping frightens you that much-"

"It's not the sleeping part that scares me, L," she retorted in a callous whisper, "it's the fact that you look like I'm about to leap up and rape you. It's not exactly _comforting_ knowing that I inspire someone to shit their britches in fear."

L squinted his eyes shut again, blocking her out as if she were the spawn of all things maddening in the world. He took a deep breath before slowly opening his eyes again and turning to look at her. "I feel that it would be very inappropriate to explain myself, but no, I do not think that you are going to 'leap up and rape me'. Can that answer be adequate for now?"

The hard serration in his voice paired with the trembling of his hands stirred a concern deep within Amelia's stomach, but she fought the urge to challenge him with a narrowed gaze by studying the image of Misa Amane on the laptop. "Yes," she said, her voice tight. "Yes, that's _adequate._"

"Excellent," L said beneath his breath.

"Marvelous," Amelia spat, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Brilliant."

"Grand."

"All is fine and superb in the world."

The biting sarcasm in L's voice took Amelia off guard, but she clapped her hands together and stood up. "Yes, everything is just great on the planet right now," she snapped, throwing her hands in the air. "We have a mass murdering psychopath roaming free, we have _another_ psychopath teaming up with him to wipe out the population that defies their rule, which includes us, _and_ we have a useless prisoner girl strapped to a plank who wouldn't talk even if I stabbed her with a hot poker! Everything is _splendid_!"

Instead of a rebuttal, L simply blinked at her. When he sighed and stood up out of his chair, Amelia took an instinctive step back, breathing heavily and biting upon her bottom lip. She took a wary look around the room to see Matsuda, Aizawa and Mogi still sound asleep on the numerous couches.

When she looked back at L and saw the tenderness in his eyes, her reason for her outburst failed to return to her.

She felt foolish, as well as a creeping blush upon her cheeks.

L took a few more steps towards her until he was within inches of her face. The barren blackness of his eyes bore into her until she nearly looked away, but a light touch of his fingertip upon her cheek caused her to stay still.

He was searching her. But for what? What was there possibly lurking in her eyes that he had not already dragged out of her?

"You know my identity," he said softly.

It was a strange statement, but she did not cringe. "And you know mine."

"Which is why you know that it is dangerous for me to love you. Am I correct?"

Amelia swallowed hard. Why he suddenly intimidated her with his gaze now, of all times, she was clueless. "Dangerous?" she whispered hoarsely.

_Love me…he said it…_

His fingertip left her cheek reluctantly, but his eyes focused on hers with a heated concentration. "I have taken on a case that could kill either of us on any given day. I have avoided emotional attachment for a _reason_, Amelia."

"It's too late for that," Amelia interrupted. She closed her eyes tightly and reached out for him, touching his hip lightly. She heard him bite back a quiet gasp, but he did not pull away from her. In fact, if she was not mistaken, he leaned into her hand so subtly that she had the notion that it was indeed an accident on L's behalf. When he did not speak for a few moments, she whispered, "It's not that easy to brush off. I see you every day, wondering when you'll touch me again just to hold me over for the next time." She turned her eyes away from him again, embarrassed at her confession but too fueled off of her desperation to stop. "I have to act as though I hate you to hold myself back from…I don't know."

She felt his touch return to her chin to lift her gaze to his.

"Do you honestly think that I am foolish enough to believe that you hate me, Amelia?" he asked softly.

"I never did think that. That's why you…you piss me off. So incredibly much." Her grip tightened on his hip, a wordless sign of her yearning, and she considered throwing her pride out the hotel window and kissing him.

And yet she did not have the courage to move any closer to him. Truth be told, there was a small part of her soul that was still coerced by his gray-ringed eyes, his pale lips, his willowy fingers and untamed inky black hair. This same part of her, however, shared the same curious longing that managed to dominate her entire person when she was this close to him.

"You love me," she declared softly. It was not a question nor was there a need for confirmation; L loved her, and knowing so frightened him.

But as he stood before her, there was no talk of L and Amelia; there were two people, one man, one woman, drinking in the others' eyes and not quite embracing, but linked through her hand and his hip.

L closed his eyes for a moment, bowing his head, and slowly looked back up at her. "Yes," he whispered huskily, "yes, I believe I do."

Before Amelia could make any sign of recognition, he shakily placed one hand behind her head and pulled her face to his.

Their lips did not meet, but the pounding in her heart was almost as if they had.

Warm fingertips by her temple encouraged her eyes to flutter closed, and his touch wandered in a lazy trail up into her hair, merging through the thick tresses and gently pushing them off her forehead. He removed his hand from behind her head and held it against the small of her back, tremoring. Even still, their lips remained mere centimeters away.

She could feel his breath. She could feel his touch shivering upon her back, interlaced within her hair. Every fiber of energy that L gave off, she felt it invading her bloodstream for a quick visit, only to be swept out once more through her gaping mouth and finding its way back to its pale and shadowed home.

She bit upon her bottom lip and simply _felt._

"I'm not used to this, Amelia," he whispered.

Amelia shook her head. She knew that already; and was she any more experienced in sensuality than he was? They both possessed a form of virginal innocence that had been distorted by the neverending burning of natural human desire, one that they clung to, yet frantically tried to conceal with work and professionalism; nonetheless, to distract themselves from the riotous flooding of questions that could be answered with the others' lips.

"I know," she whispered back. "And…and neither am I."

"Which is why you are trembling." His voice was so soft, lilting with a slight apprehension that came with the contact he made with her.

"Y-yes."

Silence fell, but his touch did not. He held her gently behind her back and in her hair, his lips hovering over hers, just within her reach. The space between them was a heated bridge, one that she could pass over with just one movement of her head…

Her hand was still on his hip, but wavering as the remainder of her sanity began to shatter.

Another fragile shard of her mind cracked off the edge when his lips brushed against her ear. "Please understand," he murmured, "that I wish for nothing more than to take you as my own tonight."

The fire in her blood was growing unbearable. "I-I know…I know, L…"

His hold of her back tightened, his fingers in her hair stroked downwards to her neck and paused. "And you understand why I fear losing control with you because of that wish?" His lips brushed against her earlobe again and she jerked in response, allowing her fingers to tauten around his lean hip. "Please, tell me that you understand…"

The pace of his breathing was erratic in her ear and drumming through her brain. It shot through her veins and settled between her legs, and much to her embarrassment, she constricted the muscles of her thighs as if to hold onto the fluttering. "It's not that I don't understand," she breathed out, "it's that I don't know if I will be able to wait long enough."

The statement applied to both of them, and she knew that L had caught on judging by the way his fingers faltered upon her neck. He turned his face to hers, eyes spacious and endlessly, eternally grey, and appeared as though he was in the crossroad of kissing her or retreating from her.

If anyone had been able to find a median between the two options, Amelia knew that L could be the person to do so.

His lips grazed hers in a preview of a kiss, not sealing her lips entirely, nor leaving her in the dark. Amelia's eyes immediately fell closed and she waited for him to finalize the gesture, to fully, deeply kiss her instead of merely hinting at it. She needed this…he needed this…so why was he not giving them both _this?_

_Please…_

Her hands reached up and rested against his chest in an unvoiced entreaty that severed the dangling splinter of resilience within her. She submitted to the growing warmth in her blood and claimed his lips shakily, blindly reaching his face and pulling his tension to merge with hers in a kiss. As if without effort, she felt his lips grow pliant beneath hers and fall open for her to indulge in. L took advantage of her action and gripped her neck for support as he shivered into the kiss. Amelia felt his hand drift up her spine, shaking the entire journey, and trail back down until it rested on her hip, pulling her closer to his warmth.

The muffled gasp that came from her mouth when her hips brushed his did not go unnoticed by the all-too-attentive L, and his jaw went slack just long enough for Amelia to deepen the kiss in spite of her inexperience. L responded by tangling his fingers through her hair once more and taking control over the kiss before Amelia could stop him.

Did she _want_ to stop him? There was nothing she longed for more than to cling onto him for dear life and let herself be erased into his lips and hands until she was nothing more than a pretty red mist between his fingers.

And for that very frightening desire, one that she could not control and tame, she pulled away.

They seemed to stumble apart, both breathing heavily and staring at the floor. L instinctively crammed his pale fists into his pockets and hunched his back to conceal his face more effectively. Amelia bit down upon her bottom lip and ran her fingers through her hair, making sure to keep her eyes averted from his in the afterglow of their sudden fever.

"We'll wake the others," she said quickly.

"Yes," L agreed. His lean frame was trembling just as heavily as Amelia's willowy one was, she noticed.

"Misa may talk."

"Of course."

She was making excuses, but he was agreeing with them. Now that their lips had parted from their battle, she felt the ambush of excess heat attack her limbs until she nearly lost her balance, and she approached the armchair to allow her legs much-needed movement. When her knees gave out from beneath her, L dashed to her aid and dragged her back against him, her bottom pressed against his groin.

It was in this very position that both Amelia and L froze.

She was gripping the back of the armchair, her knees still recovering from their sudden weakness, and his arms were wrapped around her stomach in a way that they never had been before. _Hungrily. _His breath was on her neck, as well as the soft, tickling ends of his hair that played at her earlobes.

It was absurd how badly she ached for him. But pinned to a chair with three sleeping officers in the same room?

She turned to look around her shoulder at him. His cheeks were flushed and red, and the expression on his face was nothing less than humiliated as he quickly released her again. "Forgive me," he mumbled, "I feared you would fall if I hadn't-"

"It's fine," Amelia replied, her voice an octave higher than normal. She cringed at the sound and cleared her throat. "I-it was an accident."

"Yes."

Adrenaline kept her awake, but she desperately needed to lay her head down and aid the pulsing in her temples and, oddly enough, between her legs. She could close her eyes until her swollen, distorted thoughts leaked out of her pores enough for her to think clearly.

"I'll take my shift for sleep now," she said, her words rushed and somewhat slurred through her teeth. "I-if that's alright."

L nodded, his hair draping over his bloodshot eyes. "Of course it's alright," he said softly. "Sleep as long as you wish."

"If Misa speaks, will you-"

"I will wake you," L said, turning his head away from her. "Now please, rest."

The tremoring in his voice told Amelia that his body had betrayed him that exact manner that hers had, and she nodded before retreating to the bedroom.

* * *

_If I lost my control with her…_

L squinted his eyes shut for a brief second before snapping them open once more. Misa had not awoken in her colorless prison yet; just as he had expected.

_If I let myself…no, if she let me, take her…_

He shakily dropped two more sugar cubes into his cold coffee, but let it sit upon the table.

_If I put her in more danger than she has already been thrown into…_

It was five in the morning, and L knew the others would be waking soon. They would be oblivious to the stirring that had occurred in his heart, as well as Amelia's, just mere hours ago. The day would resume, they would succumb to their aliases.

_…would I ever forgive myself?_

* * *

**I'm exhausted…it's nearing four in the morning, I'm running low on coffee, and I lack a loyal Watari or adorable Matsuda to fetch me more.**

**Please review! All are appreciated.**


	21. Childhood

**Good lord, I'm stressed to my limits…stupid exams, stupid school, stupid mental capacity…**

**Anyway, here is the long awaited twenty-first chapter! Lots of flashbacks ensue…**

**I don't own Death Note.**

* * *

_When the clocks of the orphanage would chime nine at night and the shadows would fall outside the windows, L would find himself scuttling into the library before the final peal rang. _

_His corner of the world consisted of a small stack of books that he never got around to finishing before being swept away to bed by the maids. After enduring countless times of having to relocate his selections, he had taken up the custom of stowing the books away beneath the bookshelves for safekeeping. The maids were fooled, and L was pleased._

_The girl had taken the same liking to late night reading as well, and he was mixed on his feelings towards it. Did he mind having the strange, mahogany-haired child sharing the same respite as him? Was it a bother to him that they may just cross paths when reaching for a book in the same isle? _

_It was the same girl that defended him without request. She was just as pale as he was, three years younger and sharp-eyed. She fascinated him, distracted him from his reading, and had not spoken to him since the incident with the group of troubled children when the snow came. It did not bother him. He enjoyed the silence that came with these nights in the library, tucked away into the works of Doyle. _

_The library became cold at night, and she would normally scramble through the door bundled in the new coat that the orphanage had provided her with in place of the rugged garment that she had arrived in. L found this amusing; he was never cold. _

_The strange six-year-old would catch his eye every visit, and give him something between a curious stare and a defiant smirk. Was she embarrassed that she had defended him for reasons unknown, or was she simply brash? Even at nine years old, L was quite certain that she was, at the very least, strange. He continued studying her long after she had looked away, and followed her with his eyes as she went in search of her books. _

_Much to his confusion, a rare emotion for L, the girl sat in the same row of bookshelves as he did one particularly chilly night, wrapped in a brown coat and woolen green scarf, and spoke._

_"What are you reading?" _

_She had a peculiar accent, a bizarre mixture of English and Scottish in which neither blended nor clashed. Her eyes were too blue. Her hair was either brown or red, L could not decide which it leaned towards more, but it brushed towards her face sloppily and fell down her back in an array of curls, waves, and impossible frizz. L cocked his head at her and sheepishly held up his book for her to see. Her narrow cobalt eyes flit across the cover and she nodded. "I've heard of Doyle," she said quietly, "but Dorothy Parker is my favorite."  
_

_When L merely stared and did not respond, she continued. _

_"She's a poet, you know. I really like her. She's very _witty_." She held out her book to him and he warily accepted it between two fingers. "You should read some of her stuff."_

_L was silent for a moment. This girl was strange, no doubt, but he was willing to return her challenge. He outstretched his arm to give her his book, studying her facial expression carefully. Her bright eyes narrowed as she studied the cover and she held the book close to her chest. "Bet I can read this before you can read mine," she said with a blunt pride that L widened his eyes at. "By tommorow. Bet you." _

_L idly flipped through the pages of the book she had given him. "Yes," he said with a small smile. He turned to look at her and drew back when he realized how close she was to him. She was leering at him, smirking as if she had already won the battle, and whipped a piece of hair out of her eyes. "We can meet in here again tomorrow," she suggested, "and see who's finished first."_

_"What if we both are?"  
_

_"New books," she said with a sinister smirk. "We'll just keep going until one of us beats the other. It won't be too hard."_

_L caught onto the indirect jab at him and stared the six-year-old down with an acknowledged challenge. He gave her a little nod of his head and saw her smirk crease deeper on her pale face before she jumped up and scampered off out the door, her borrowed book tucked in the crook of her arm._

* * *

"I bet I can tie this cherry stem into a knot quicker than you can," Amelia said tiredly, sprawled out on her back on the floor of the surveillance room. She held a bowl of plump red cherries in her palm, outstretched to L.

Four in the morning. Three days of coffee, irritation, and whittling patience, and the china doll had not spoken a word.

With a quick glance at the screen, the motionless girl on the plank, and back at Amelia, L plucked a cherry from the scarlet cluster and gave her a nod of his head. "Challenge accepted," he said, "but I'm afraid that you are quite wrong on your guess."

Amelia snorted out a chuckle and dangled a cherry above her face like an ornament. "Try me," she said with a snicker. "One, two, three."

Both snapped the stem of the cherry off and hurriedly placed it into their mouths, skillfully crafting it into a secure knot and pulling it out at the exact same second as the other. Both held out their stems to the other to look at with wide eyes, in disbelief.

Amelia was the first to speak, and brashly so. "You…how did that…did you-"

"Cheat?" L finished for her. "Oh, of course not. I don't even see it as possible, since we started at the same time." He gave her an innocent smile and cocked his head to the right, playing with her fury at neither losing or winning. "Are you troubled? You look like you're on the limit of homicide."

She breathed out a harsh sigh and collected two more cherries, tossing one to him. L caught it smoothly in his palm and kept the ironic smile on his face. "I'll beat you, dammit, I swear to you," Amelia muttered beneath her breath. "One, two, three."

* * *

_She had a bad habit of speaking out at the worst times, L soon learned. _

_He had watched her as she had been sent out of the room for talking incongruously, moreover her less than appropriate language that would slip out occasionally, and although his eyes had widened slightly when she had accidentally cursed when her pencil broke, he saw no reason to ban her from learning for the next hour. The teacher was threatening detention. The girl had threatened crying. _

_L had deduced that she must have learned the colorful word from her family before she arrived at the orphanage. Surely it was not the girl's fault for allowing her manners to slip, whether or not she had been taught them at all, and he turned to stare at the door that she was most likely moping behind. _

_Ten minutes left of class. He would talk to her, he had decided, but about what? He was uncertain. All he knew was that something was tugging at his conscience to ask her who exactly she was. He still did not know her name. The teacher had addressed her as "young lady" instead of any name that he could commit to memory. _

_The remaining class time dragged by as his eyes remained on the door. When the children were dismissed, he scuttled out of the room just as the girl would always scuttle into the library at nine o'clock at night._

_Just as L had expected, she sat against the wall a few feet down from the door, cross-legged and sour-faced. She did not look up as the students filed out of the room cleanly, and continued glaring down at the floor until L cautiously approached her. "Hi," he said softly, shifting his weight awkwardly and scratching the back of his wild hair. Even at nine, he managed to be a disheveled bundle of black and magnolia pale and absent eyes. _

_The girl did not look up at him. "What do you want?" she muttered. She rested her chin bitterly against her fist._

_"Where did you learn that word?" _

_She looked up at him now, sharply, furiously. Her eyes flashed with wrath as she stood up abruptly, standing on the tips of her toes to reach his height. "None of your business," she spat. "Just leave me alone!" _

_L shook his head blandly and continued with his questioning. "I don't think it was your fault. They shouldn't give you detention."_

_"It's just a word," the girl said with agitation. She began tugging at her earlobe and averted her blue eyes away from him. "My daddy used to say it a lot."_

_"To your mother?" L asked innocently, peering closer at her. _

_Almost immediately, she jerked her head back to him and reached her fist back, as if to punch him, but when L remained unfliching, she dropped the fist back to her side and collected her books on the floor quickly into her arms. The last thing she said to him before walking away sourly was, "Why do you care?"_

* * *

If there was to be any sort of competition worth battling, it would be who would manage to consume the most coffee. Amelia immediately ruled this possibility out of her mind; she was not willing to drink another droplet of coffee after having lived on it for the past three days.

_Wouldn't have to if fucking Misa would talk…but that would be too easy…that would be too convenient for _

_us…fucking kidneys are probably in shambles now…_

She blamed her own obsession for information on refusing to sleep, unlike the remainder of the task force whom took up the eventless opportunity to crash on the couches and armchairs of the makeshift surveillance room. L, awake and somehow alert as ever, tapped her lightly stop her head and stole her attention away from her inward complaints of the world.

"Yes?" she muttered. She looked up from her position on the floor and saw that he was smiling softly at her, and she returned his look of endearment with a confused furrowing of her brow. "What was that for?"

As if his smile had been set with a timer, his face shifted back to its blissful blank and he cocked his head. Clearing his throat, he looked back up at the laptop as if nothing had occurred to question. "My apologies," he said quietly, "I failed in fighting back that urge quite miserably."

"What urge? To tap my head and stare at me?" Amelia asked, amused.

"Not quite the case, it was just how the urge was released." He stroked his lip thoughtfully with his pointer finger. "I have a fondness for your hair, I realize."

Idly, Amelia took a red strand of her hair between her fingers and studied it up close. The sight of her split ends made her cringe. "I don't see why," she said, "it's quite insufferable most of the time."

"However you wish to take it," L said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "Although I disgree. Greatly, in fact."

Amelia rolled her eyes, masking a smile that threatened her lips. "Of course my hair would be topic for debate, of all things."

"I thought you liked to debate."

"Oh, I do," she said, nodding. "I just find your mentality of my hair to be…interesting. Worth questioning." She stifled a yawn that swirled around her mouth, fighting off her burning desire to collapse onto the carpet and sleep away another year.

"And I find you interesting, Lise-san," L replied softly. His eyes were still focused on the laptop, but Amelia could see the manner in which he smiled beneath himself, as if he had realized at that moment that he desired her, or that he was playing an enjoyable ruse with her impatience. It was no secret between them that she lacked the calm that he possessed that held him together. It was her failure, her tragic flaw, and for that, she would pay with the sight of his coy smile.

Nevertheless, she scowled and did not speak again until Watari's voice came from the laptop.

"Ryuzaki!"

Intuitively, L perked up and leaned forward in his chair. "Yes, Watari. What is it?"

"Ms. Amane is speaking!"

Whether Amelia gasped or not, it was unknown to her as she whipped her attention to the screen. "W-what?" she uttered. "She's-"

"Visuals and audio, Watari! Now!" L ordered, nearly toppling over in his chair from looming in to the screen. Amelia bounded up from the floor and began shaking the other task force members awake, hollering the news to them to snap them out of their sleepy trance. Matsuda, naturally, took the longest to return to reality, but with Aizawa muttering complaints and Soichiro quickly wiping the fatigue from his eyes, the room turned its bleary attention onto the screen.

Not giving the extra second to glance up at L's reaction, Amelia scooted closer to the laptop and held her breath. _This is it…she's going to give us a clue, anything to lead us closer to catching him…come on, Misa, don't fuck up on us now…_

"She's really talking?" Matsuda mumbled sleepily, rubbing his eyes. "M-Misa's really-"

An angry chorus of "Matsuda!" erupted from the throats of every task force member before the tinny voice of Misa came from the laptop.

Her words were not what Amelia had her hopes set upon.

_"K-kill me."_

* * *

_Her stage name, her pseudonym that she had been given by Roger Ruvie himself the day she stepped into the orphanage, was the center of detestation in her mind._

_Cait. Nothing more than a one-syllable utterance of four letters, lacking the flow of her birth name or her own admiration. Cait. She hated it. _

_She told her name to no one, but mainly because no one asked._

_But this boy…he was staring at her with round black eyes that expected an answer from her as quickly as possible so that he could continue with his day and forget about her again. She assumed so, at least._

_He was strange, but not strange enough to turn her away. Then again, Amelia had never been all too conventional to begin with anyway._

_"Who are you?"_

_It was a good question. Who was she? She had been abandoned, as well as her true name in which was left to linger in the back of her mind until forgotten. She was Cait. She was a girl whom had been dropped off in a careless heap of soiled cotton clothing and tattered mittens until the front doors opened, as well as the arms of an eldery man that had given her a strange test of aptitude. She had sailed through it in under a half hour, questioned why she was made to work when all she needed was sleep and perhaps a warm bowl of soup to ease her chills._

_She was deemed worthy. She was accordingly "brilliant". She was a genius. The poor girl had never known any of this before; she had always assumed that others were merely more impatient than she was, and therefore failed to consider a more intelligent outing to a conflict._

_So who exactly was she? Amelia Lasswell, without a doubt, not this Cait person that she was expected to live as. _

_He was still staring at her, awaiting her response. She did not even know who he was, let alone herself._

_"I can't tell you," she said with a shake of her head. "I don't like the name they gave me."She reopened the book that had been resting in her lap for the past minute as she surveyed her options of an answer. _

_The boy made no sign of a reaction, but stood back up and ruffled the back of his hair with his pale fingers. Why was he walking away? Had she offended him? She stared after hin, confused, and promptly snapped her book shut. She would have preferred a rebuttal or pressure to tell him, not this silent charade that he was playing for her. _

_She would make things easier for the both of them. _

_"Promise not to tell?" she called after him. _

_The boy stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. A small smile touched his pale lips and he made a few steps back to where she stood. As he opened his mouth to speak, Amelia scurried closer to him and took a brief survey of her surroundings. "You should tell me who you are first. Deal?"_

_"L," he said without a moment's hesitation. He leered closer at her face and cocked his head as she took a step back, suddenly outraged at his response. He was lying to her, she knew it; and she would not tolerate it!_

_"That's not your name! That's a letter!" Amelia whispered harshly, pointing her finger in his face. She saw his eyes cross when he stared at her fingertip up close and stifled a giggle. No, she would most certainly not giggle at a time when she was making her debut of anger! He would not hold that power over her when she was attempting to make a point._

_"You asked for my name, didn't you?" _

_"Yes, but that's not it! You're lying!"_

_"Why would I lie about my name? I wouldn't do that."_

_While it was true that Amelia did not see what the boy would gain from lying to her, she was already on a rampage of interrogation for him to tell her his true name. L? What a laugh. No common parent would ever name their child such a joke of a name, and she refused to believe that he was a rare case. With a grand huff of exasperation, she crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. "Because. And I don't want to tell you my name now."_

_His expression remained unchanging as he began to walk away again. "That's ok. I wasn't going to make you."_

_"Well, good! Because I'm not going to." Amelia turned her back on the boy and stared down a collection of dictionaries as if they had greatly offended her. _

_"That's fine."_

_Why was he so calm? Why would he use his alias in an attempt to sneak by her? Did he find her stupid? Was she?_

_No, of course she was not stupid. Her IQ was brilliant, according to her test, surpassing many of the others at the orphanage without any extra effort on her part. _

_So why was it that as she made a slow turn to watch the nine-year-old boy who called himself L walk away from her, that she felt truly, utterly stupid?_

* * *

_"Kill me! Please…just kill me…I know you can…" _

"Kill her? What the hell is she playing at?"

"M-maybe we should let her out for a little while…um, hasn't it been a couple of days since she's-"

"Matsuda!"

_"Please, just kill me!"_

Deciphering voices was growing more and more of a task as L narrowed his eyes on Misa and attempted to make sense of her pleading. It was not a confession by any stretch of his hopes, but begging for death to take her was not to be understated…what possible motives would the girl have for wishing to be killed besides being overwhelmed with the guilt of knowing that her capture had been confirmed?

_Either she cannot stand the confinement any longer and wishes for it to end under any circumstances, which does not seem likely…or the pressure of being caught as the second Kira overrides her will to live. How should we react…? Should I interrogate further on the latter…? All evidence points to her being the second Kira…but to beg for us to kill her, of all things…?_

"Should I go down there, Ryuzaki? Question her on the chance that she's near a confession, or…?"

Amelia was beside him, gripping the arm of his chair until her knuckles were whitewashed. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and teased his bottom lip with a festering impatience. "I don't think that would be in your best interests, Lise-san."

"Then what should we do? If she truly is the second Kira-"

_"Just do it already! Please! Kill me!"_

L heard Amelia curse bitterly beneath her breath and vaguely saw her reach for her earlobe to tug at. She did not finish her earlier statement and began to pace.

"Ryuzaki," Matsuda piped nervously from behind the armchair, "a-are you sure that this is ok? I mean, she's so young and all-"

"Would you prefer me to have placed her in a five-star suite, Matsuda?" L hissed, frustrated with both Misa Amane's absurd pleadings and Matsuda's dronings. "She has been captured as the second Kira, don't you recall?"

When Matsuda mumbled an apology and shuffled away, L quickly pressed the button of the intercom into Misa's confinement room. He had to do something, anything, fast before things became out of control. "Amane-san," he addressed.

Misa paused in her pleading and straightened slightly against her metal lath. "Y-yes?" she whimpered.

L drummed his fingers against his upright knee and leaned in closer to the microphone. "What is your reason behind wishing for us to kill you? Is the evidence against you too much to handle to remain living?"

_"P-please…I can't…j-just kill me already! Why aren't you doing it already?!"_

"Oh, what the fuck…" Amelia muttered from beside him. "What the fuck is this…" She ran her fingers through her hair and retreated again to behind the chair that L was perched in.

L continued in his questioning, in spite of Misa's trembling and sniffling. "Is this your way of admitting that you are indeed the second Kira, Misa Amane?"

It took him a moment to realize how tightly he was gripping the flexible stem of the microphone until Amelia's fingers timidly wrapped around them and loosened them for him. The touch was unexpected, and he turned his head slightly to her only to see that she was staring at the laptop once more. He kept his grip of the microphone loose, although he was aware that he was gritting his teeth, a habit that only occurred when he felt just out of reach of good, solid evidence.

_"Then I'll just do it myself if you won't!" _

L inwardly thanked his quick reaction time and ordered into the microphone, "Watari! Make sure she doesn't-"

_"Yes, Ryuzaki,"_ the older man replied, understanding L's morbid thought process of what the blonde could commit with a rough bite of her tongue. With a quick flash of a rolled cloth hastily pulled over her mouth, Misa was silenced and saved against her own wishes. She thrashed for a few seconds before falling to an eerie calm, her limbs loose and her head bowed.

"This has to be it," Amelia said softly by his ear, her chin resting against the back of the chair. "This is the closest she's come to a confession."

L shivered slightly when her hair brushed against the side of his neck, but he cleared his throat and tapped against his knees to keep his hands occupied. "While it's not a confession," he said, "it's very curious for her to wish to die if she were innocent. You would think that we would have found a loophole in the evidence against her by now if she were not to be guilty." His voice trailed off as he studied Misa's still form and tried to ignore the tickling of Amelia's hair whenever she would shift her weight.

"I'd be overwhelmed either way, but I don't see a possibility of her innocence. And her relations with Light support the suspicions even more, don't you think?"

"That's exactly what I think," L said gravely, "but we cannot convict either of them until we

understand how Kira kills…"

He heard Amelia heave a sigh and shifted her weight once more. More brushing against his sensitive neck, more reminders of the kiss that he had not planned to happen, but nevertheless continued to haunt his concentration. How obscure his mind could become after one sensual touch, after just one recent kiss in which had sent his stomach skittering across slippery glass for him to trample and run after.

Now was not the time to think about such trivial touches. He needed to focus, focus, _focus…_

"Damn Kiras with their damn twisted ideals," Amelia bitterly whispered. She stood up, much to L's relief, and her soft assault of her hair left his skin. "Making things so difficult, like always."

Her statement brought an amused smirk to the corner of L's lips. "And I am sure that they say the exact same thing about us, Lise-san."

He pretended not to catch the knowing glance and the sly smile that Amelia shot in his direction. He could do without the added distraction for just one more hour.

* * *

_Her clumsiness was the main provider of laughter for the other children, but her backlash upon them was nothing less than interesting._

_L found it hard to believe that this six-year-old whom rarely spoke to anyone, let it be a rebuttal to a taunting session or a frustrated huff, had the ability to silence any child who took up the chance to tease her. She was flashing, bright, and just so endlessly _angry, _but L found it a struggle to stay away from her. She interested him. Not many people had such an effect of him, and he wished to relish it while it was present. _

_He found her in the corner of the library as opposed to her usual aisle, and much to his confusion, crying. She _

_seemed to sense his company within the same second that he spotted her, and she hastily snapped her head up to glare at him as if he were the cause of her upset. "Go away!" _

_L merely cocked his head at her order and took another step towards her. "You're crying," he stated quietly. It was the least he could do, seeing as he lacked the understanding to console her or the social stability to even grasp her own desire to be alone. He had not cried in years, and seeing the girl that he had become familiar with to an extent both confused and fascinated him. How else would he be able to see her better if he were not to move closer to her? It seemed logical enough in his mind._

_When he crouched in front of her, she retreated deeper into the corner and turned her face away from his, sniffling violently and wiping her eyes. "I said go away!" _

_"I know," L said with a little nod. "But you're crying. It would be rude for me to leave you here."_

_"Not rude," she huffed out. Her words were broken into breathy syllables due to her gasping sobs, and she seemed to be all the more upset because of her lack of control over her crying. "It's not rude to go away when I tell you to!"_

_"While that may be true," L remarked thoughtfully, thumb against lip, "I don't want you to leave you here _

_when you're crying. That's what would be rude." He intuitively dipped his thumb into his mouth and stared at her with _

_round, black eyes. She was a mighty interesting one, this girl with no name. _

_"You're annoying," she whimpered with another harsh sniff. _

_"I'm sorry."_

_An inaudible buzz of awkwardness fell upon the two as the girl's weeping died down into short gasps and diluted whimpers. She wiped her runny nose with the back of the oversized sleeve of her olive-green sweater and looked up at him. "Is L really your name?" _

_L gave her a mute nod._

_The girl gave him a sad little smile and allowed a lone tear that clung to her chin to fall to its death to the floor. "Amelia," she whispered._

_She did not have to explain further to him. L caught on silently, and returned the smile that she gave him. _

_"Promise not to tell?" she asked him._

_As the girl, Amelia, stared up at him with an unsure smile on her tear-stained face, L nodded without a word. He would never break a promise. _

* * *

"Misa's passed out."

Amelia felt as though she could do the same. Both the stress that was mounting within her temples and the dreadful heaviness in her limbs was reaching a maddening level; but would she show it? She refused to. Moreover, her own desire that was parallel to L's in capturing Kira or snapping Misa out of her trance was more irresistible than the warm hands of rest.

"Has she eaten anything since we've had her in confinement, Ryuzaki?" Amelia asked L as she leaned tiredly against the wall.

L turned to look at her. "Why do you ask?" he replied.

"I'm just saying, it would be wise to keep the girl alive if we plan on questioning her once she returns to a cognizant state." It amused her that even in the midst of her weariness, her language remained dramatically embroidered. Still, she could not bring forth the energy to smile and slumped lower against the wall.

"I suppose that once she comes to we can take care of that matter," L said dryly. "Satisfied, Lise-san?"

The subtle eccentuation on "satisfied" caused Amelia to bow her head and smirk wickedly. "In time, Ryuzaki, yes."

She saw his shoulders stiffen slightly, much to her delight, and her smirk deepened. _Oh, the lovely power of innuendo…this is a fun game that we play, L…_

"Looks like Misa's coming to, Ryuzaki," Aizawa said with an edge of remorse. "Have to deal with that voice again…"

"No," Amelia said, shaking her head and bounding over to the laptop once more, "it means it's another chance at information!" She wiped her palms off on her thighs with a burning anticipation. "Come on, Misa, don't let us down again…"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up," Aizawa said. "She's been nothing but annoying lately, if you ask me."

"I wasn't." Amelia heard a soft chuckle come from the back of the room, belonging to Matsuda. While Aizawa shot him a negation, Amelia tuned the two men out of her mind and waited for Misa to speak into the cold room where she had been for three days.

_"M-Mr. Stalker? Can you tell me where I am? P-please, this isn't right…" _

Amelia watched in disbelief as the girl tried to squirm, but was restrained with her ties and straps. She was whimpering again, a teeth-grittingly bothering sound, and clenched her little white fists into tight knots.

_"Um…do you want something from me, Mr. Stalker? C-can't you just let me go already? I mean, i-it's felt like so long…Mr. Stalker?"_

With an irate glance over her shoulder to L, she saw that he appeared just as dumbstruck as she was. He caught her eyes, if only for a fraction of a confusion-fueled second, and quickly looked back to the screen. "Lise-san, when you and the others apprehended Misa Amane, did you catch whether or not Mogi made sure to tell her why she was being captured?"

She was expecting him to ask such a thing. "Yes, of course he did. Although I don't see why she would suddenly be this ignorant after regaining consciousness…"

"The stupid card," Aizawa grumbled irritably.

With a sigh, L pressed the intercom button once more and spoke into the microphone. "Misa Amane."

Misa made another squeak of a whimper as she raised her head slightly. _"Y-yes, Mr. Stalker? Can I get out of here now, please?"_

"Christ…" Amelia whispered as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Before you lost consciousness, you were begging for someone to take you out of your misery of being confined," L explained. "Is there any reason why you are suddenly think of me to be a stalker?"

_"W-well, who else would you be besides my stalker? There wouldn't be any other reason for me to be here…can't you just let me go, please? I promise I won't run to the police…M-Mr. Stalker?"_

With a swift tug of the microphone, Matsuda took force over the situation."Come on, Misa, snap out of it! This is just some stupid act!"

His sudden outburst caused Amelia to give a start, but she hurriedly yanked him back by the shoulder away from the microphone. "Matsuda, what the hell? Calm down!"

It was foolish of her, who happened to be the most high strung out of all of them, to tell the officer to simmer down, but she could do without causing a ruckus at such a crucial time in the investigation. If only she could breathe normally, even for just a minute or two, to soothe the dizzying fatigue swelling in her brain…

"Uh, sorry, Lise," Matsuda stuttered, "I don't know where that came from…"

"Well, just keep it under control for awhile, alright?" Amelia said. "Take a breather or something."

Matsuda nodded, clearly embarrassed, and shuffled off to stand with Aizawa and calm the blushing of his cheeks. Amelia took a deep breath before returning to the laptop beside L, whom had calmly taken hold of the microphone once more.

_"P-please, I'm really scared…just let me out already! I can't take it in here anymore! I…I need to go to bathroom!"_

Amelia saw L take a deep breath and close his eyes for a moment. "Misa-san, you used that excuse a mere five minutes ago. I suggest that you hold it in for the time being."

_"B-but I have to go right now! I don't even care if you watch, that's what you want out of me, isn't it?! P-pervert!"_

If the situation had been different, Amelia would have laughed at the perplexed blink and startled manner that L moved back in his chair. Slowly turning his head to her, his wide black eyes seemed to digress to a confused nine-year-old in search of an answer to a difficult question. "Am I a…?"

She did, however, laugh at his question, a sarcastic little snort that was her custom. "Why are you asking me, Ryuzaki?" she asked, playing with his question until it was directed back at him.

L's eyes narrowed for a second before a vague smirk teased his lips. "No reason, Lise-san," he said casually, "forgive my questioning."

Before Amelia could respond with something to battle his wits, the tinny sound of a cell phone ringing from L's pocket broke her train of thought. He reached into his jeans carefully and answered the phone, holding it a good distance from his ear in between two long fingers. "Yes?"

_Who could possibly be calling at a time like this…? Unless it was-  
_

"Yes, you know where we are. I'll see you momentarily."

With a quick snap, the phone was closed and returned to L's pocket. He must have seen Amelia's curious glance, for he beckoned her closer to him with a nod of his head. She obeyed.

"Light-kun is returning to headquarters," he murmured into her ear.

Amelia jumped back in shock, outraged. "W-what?" she whispered. "I thought he was forbidden from-"

"He has news on his part," L interrupted calmly. "Please do not appear as though I have told you this. He'll announce it when he-"

The door of the suite slowly opened and Amelia jerked her attention to it. Matching her dread, a bitterly sullen looking Light Yagami entered, head bowed. He looked up at the eyes upon him and took a deep breath, russet eyes gleaming with something unreadable. Guilt? Doubtful. Fear? Even more so.

She wished to reach out to L, touch his shoulder, anything to settle her raging bloodstream, but she stayed stationary in her stance by the chair.

Finally, Light spoke.

"Ryuzaki…as I said earlier on the phone…"

_Come on, Light, out with it…!_

"…I might be Kira."

* * *

**Soooo, you know what that means…lots of confinement drama whatnots, which will be oodles of fun to write…and L and Amelia finally get some more alone time. ::smile::**

**Reviews, anything! They're all welcome.**


	22. Timorous

**So…what I thought was the flu turned out to be pneumonia, thanks to a six-hour visit to the emergency room. Curses.**

**On the bright side, this gives me loads of time to work on my fics! There's a silver lining!**

**Plenty of fluff and limey content for you all in this chapter, which was one of my favorites to write. Enjoy! **

**Still don't own Death Note.**

* * *

Blank. Stunned. Questioning.

_"I might be Kira."_

Might be Kira. Light Yagami. How was Amelia meant to respond? Jump for joy and throw him in prison for the rest of his life? Or perhaps doubt his own motives for making such a bold statement virtually out of thin air…?

Even as she gaped at him from across the room, waiting for Soichiro to cease in his yelling and shaking his son by the shoulders, Amelia's mouth failed to form words.

_By flat out admitting it in such a dramatic fashion…something doesn't seem right…it doesn't seem like something Light Yagami would do. No, something is not fitting here…but he's still confessing, fake or not, so there must be some reason why he's doing this…_

Her mind was doting on the possibility that Light's confession was genuine, that this entire charade of cat and mouse between Kira and detective could indeed be that simple to end.

_But no…Light's not that easy. There has to be a reason behind this…but I can't understand why else he would confess to such a thing if he wasn't Kira…it seems far too serious than to simply get a reaction out of us…gah, fuck!_

The voices around her were a blur; Soichiro begging for his son to come to his senses, Aizawa grumbling something and fidgeting with his pockets, the raging of her own feverish thought process as she attempted to reach a consensus on how to react.

L was stone silent. Amelia could not turn her head and glance at him, for she was paralyzed into staring at Light as if the answer would leap out of the young man's eyes.

_Light Yagami…I don't know why you're doing this, but Kira wouldn't want us to know, or even understand in the slightest…isn't that right…?_

Light gently pulled himself away from his father's hold of his shoulders and stared down at the floor. "I…I don't know. It may be possible that I could be Kira without even knowing it…"

Amelia remained grave, blankly staring at the suspect until her vision began to grow dizzy. _Committing murder with your eyes closed…I don't even see it as a possibility…Kira's mind has reached the highest level of calm possible. You're not committing murder with your eyes closed, Light Yagami…you're doing it without batting an eyelash…_

"I mean…for all I know, there could be something in me that is…making this happen." Light's slender hands began to tremble; a good actor. "It's not that I would kill a human with my bare hands…that would make me just as cruel as the criminals that Kira kills, but…the chance that I could be Kira without knowing it, it's…it's unsettling."

_…what are you trying to do, Light…? _

"I know I probably sound crazy right now, but-"

"What are you asking out of us, Light? That's what I wish to know," Amelia asked sharply, her trance broken by the ridiculous statement. She clenched her fists as she held them behind her back.

Light slowly looked up at her. Cobalt eyes met with hazelnut, and for a brief second Amelia imagined a shard of the man's patience fracture and crack, stinging her face with its breakage.

_Talk to me, Kira…tell me what you're trying to do right now…_

Light heaved a weak sigh and bowed his head once more. "I…I think it would be best if I was isolated. I don't feel comfortable working in this investigation if I have even the slightest bit of doubt in myself."

_Oh, but Light, I thought you wanted this…? Wouldn't Kira want to get close to his enemies to give him the initiative to take them all out…? You're lying between your teeth, I can taste it…then again, who can blame you…?_

"Let's face it," Light continued sullenly, "both Ryuzaki and Lise suspect me the most out of everyone possibly being Kira. And in the case that I might be…"

Light turned his picturesque face away from them, keeping his head bowed and his eyes closed softly. A statue, he was, posing in front of them as if a prized sculpture ready to be polished and placed on display. "Then I don't think I should be around the task force until we can disprove it."

Soichiro, having been repressing a boiling disbelief in his chest during his son's speech, turned to Amelia with an expression that could only be described as fraught. The poor man was exhausted, she could see it in his eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but when realizing that she did not know of what to say, she quickly closed her mouth and gave him a slight tip of her head. When she glanced back up, she saw that the man was staring at L now, now more desperate than anxious, but L had his eyes set and locked on Light. With a slow turn of his head, he looked at Amelia. "Lise-san? Your opinion?"

His voice was so smooth, so calm and unscathed that Amelia was forced to clench her fists and restrain herself from leaping upon Light and ordering for him to come completely clean, instead of tugging at the stem of her brain with him skimming over the surface of the question: Light Yagami, are you Kira?

She knew quite some time ago that it would never be that easy, which was her logic behind joining the case. Amelia wanted the _challenge_ of capturing Kira, of assisting L, of pushing herself to the limits of her patience because she would not have had it any other way. If forcing Kira to admit his identity were to be as easy as simply tying him down and shaking it out of him, he would have long been arrested and sentenced to death by then.

It would not have taken a fraction of L's energy that way, or a fiber of her help. Which was why, in a sense, she craved the test because she would not be anywhere without it. She would have been sitting on the worn futon of her rathouse apartment, clad in a grubby T-shirt and scrounging around for cash to bring her water back on, and staring out the same damn window so that she could look down at Japan, the place she had sought refuge in ever since that dreadful occurrence, and wonder where she was going with her life. The answer would have remained a foggy mystery without this case, the very case that she now depended on to reassure herself that, yes, Amelia Lasswell was indeed a detective, and that she had had a hand in scorching Kira's name to infamy.

To show herself that she could wipe the most famous serial killer off the map. To show herself that she could _do it._

And with this, fresh and unscathed in her mind, she cleared her throat and spoke.

"Whatever Light wishes," she said cooly. She gripped the hem of her sweater behind her back and felt the stinging in her knuckles. "Restraint should take action-"

"Immediately," L interjected quickly. "Aizawa, please take care of Light-kun's preparations for confinement. Watari will assist you."

As Amelia watched Aizawa take Light by the arm with a firm nod, she contemplated joining him in taking the prime suspect to the grounds of his restraint. Something twisted and morbid within her told her that she wanted to witness Light being led into a colorless cell, sat upon a bench, and closed off with cold steel bars that would ensure his distance from the investigation.

She bit her tongue from the request and watched Aizawa lead the boy away, Watari waiting in the hall.

* * *

Standing by the cool glass of the window, two detectives reflected.

"Well," Amelia mumbled, "he's managed to royally confuse the wits out of me."

L could say the same, once entirely mulling over Light's sudden request. "By suggesting that he may be Kira without being conscious of it, I take it that Light-kun wishes to appear as innocent as possible while not entirely throwing the suspicion off of him."

Amelia released a mundane sigh and craned her neck to peer further out the window onto the florishing city outside. "It's almost as if he's accepting the suspicions, but twisting them around to his own advantage." L watched her timidly place her pale fingertips against the glass and trail them down to the white windowsill. She was so much like a curious child at times, one that had to touch everything she came in contact with to see if it was valid. "And if that's the case," she continued thoughtfully, "then he's done a pretty smooth job at wheeling around a bona fide confession, yet feeding off our notions to the point where I just…"

L had not taken his eyes off of her since she had begun speaking. She was nearly transparent by the light of the window, and the sharp angles of her face softened whenever she was absorbed in slow-burning thought. Her fingertips trailed back up the glass of the window as she stared down, hazily, at the city beneath them. "Yes?" L asked quietly, cocking his head at her.

She glanced up at him quizzically. "What?"

"You never finished your sentence."

A faint pink flushed the young woman's cheeks and she returned to staring out the window. "To the point where I just wonder what's meant to happen next," she said. The darkness in her voice caused L to peer closer at her, allocating attention to each word. Amelia continued, lightly shaking her head to herself. "I don't trust his motives behind this. Any good and innocent person wouldn't just…just throw themselves out there like this. Beg for confinement as if there were no other way out. If Light truly wasn't Kira, and if he were so certain of that before, then why would he make a move like this when we don't even have solid evidence?"

L was silent when she turned her eyes to him again for reassurance. He gave her a gentle nod and allowed her to go on.

"We're going off of _suspicions_, _theories, _things that can be disproved with proper evidence," Amelia explained. Her words were growing quicker, more panicked, as if she did not have enough time to say them. She reached up to her earlobe and teased it roughly between her fingers. "And without evidence, we can't rightfully convict anyone, correct?"

"Yes, that's cor-"

"So what could Light be possibly gaining out of this situation? Not innocence. No lessening of suspicions. Just endless, endless _contradiction._" At this, she dropped her hand back down upon the windowsill and heaved a sigh. "I've been thinking lately, and it's just food for thought," she muttered. L stepped an inch closer to her and urged her to speak with another nod of his head. She obliged. "Since it's been assumed that Kira and the second Kira had joined forces, but both Light and Misa are now being restrained…"

Her voice trailed off again as she lightly pressed a palm against the window, as if reaching out to a city she had never touched. "What if Kira is a group effort? What if there are others out there assisting them with the killings? I…I don't know how likely it is, but…wouldn't that give Light some leeway to request for confinement and be able to seemingly appear innocent at the same time? If the killings were to continue, wouldn't it seem as though he wasn't Kira and thus release suspicion upon him, and Misa at that?"

She was so nervous, L noticed, but her complexion appeared wan and washed out. Shadows had built beneath her eyes, much like his, and the sight of it concerned him.

Her breath clouded up the glass of the window in a neat little circle before she wiped it away with the back of her sleeve. A light dusting of a smile reached L's lips at the movement. "Time will tell, Amelia," he said softly. "We will keep a close watch on criminal deaths and go from there. Now, might I ask why your hands are shaking?"

"Oh, they are?" she asked wearily. "I wasn't aware of it. Sorry."

"And you appear exhausted, to say the least."

Amelia huffed out a sardonic laugh. "Coming from you."

L shoved his fists into the pockets of his jeans. "Yes, but it's not that drastic of a change for me, unlike you. If I'm not mistaken, sleeping was one of your hobbies when we first joined quarters?"

He decided not to mention the fact that he had seen her sleeping multiple times in the early days of her living with him, for the sake of the girl's comfort.

"Somewhat, but I'm working on a case, L," she replied with a sigh. "It wouldn't be appropriate to sleep away the day when there's work to do."

"Nor would it be appropriate for you to pass out due to exhaustion," he said softly. "Perhaps you should sleep while Aizawa and Watari take care of preparing Light's confinement?"

Amelia shook her head, her stubborn air kicking in immediately. "No, I can't. Something might happen while I'm out, and I can't afford to miss anything. You said that yourself some time ago."

L could not recall saying such a thing, but he decided that it was due to the girl's fatigue and cautiously reached out to lay a lone fingertip against her cheekbone. She turned her head to him slowly, eyes widening at the touch, and L took pleasure at the sight of her thin eyelids beginning to close. He cocked his head when she pulled away and shook her head. "You're trying to get me to sleep," she said with a faux sharpness, "but it's not going to work."

"Although that would be agreeable for you, that wasn't my intention."

He took her silence as room to elaborate. "I was briefly reminded of what it felt like to touch you and wished to experience it again while no one else was present. I'm sorry."

She was staring at him, her brow furrowed in a question, and she looked down at the floor quickly. "Fine, I'll lay down. But you're coming with me."

It was L's turn to widen his eyes. "Pardon?"

Amelia began walking away and looked over her shoulder at him. "Oh? Wouldn't that only be fair? You're making me lay down because I look exhausted, right?"

She was looking back at him in a way that he felt powerless of arguing against. She was as curious as he was, he knew that much. Light's confinement was not yet established; he would receive the call when the action was complete.

He could manage a minute or two of rest. Besides, she was still waiting for him, head turned and eyes narrowed.

"I suppose that would be fair trade," he responded.

She snorted. "Fair trade my ass. Admit it, you're tired."

L smiled softly and began to follow her into the bedroom. How strange this was, following her to a room in which they had shared their first kiss under such sudden circumstances…he pushed the shivering memory out of his mind and focused on a quick response. "I don't desire such great amounts of sleep as you, Amelia."

"Doesn't mean that you don't require them to function properly," she quipped cooly. "The human body needs an adequate level of rest in order to stay alert, which could, you know, come in handy if your job pretty much relies on quick thinking." She glanced at him over her shoulder briefly before facing ahead again. "Wouldn't you agree?"

He was smirking now, his head bowed and thumb playing at his bottom lip. "It would be too tiresome to disagree now. You would argue your point no matter how absurd one may find it."

At that, he heard her huff out a little irate breath and glanced back at him once more. When she saw that he was smiling at her lightly, her face softened. "And we live for it, don't we?"

Her statement was one of an innocent curiosity mixed with an almost arrogant irony. It was true in its entirety; he lived for their arguments on logistics that could be contradicted with the other's words and opinions. He lived for the manner that her eyebrows would crease, or the way her nose would scrunch when he delivered a clever rebuttal to her negations that she pushed until they frayed with exhaustion at the edges. Her words were always laced with a fire that fought against the downpour of oppositions from others, namely from himself, but would rise to the sky in a flurry of scarlet and violent orange when supported.

If he had never lived for it before, the way that her lips curled into a sheepish arc would make him do so right then and there.

"One could say so, yes," he said beneath his breath.

They had reached the bedroom, standing in front of the smooth white door, and she slowly turned the doorknob to let them in. Slowly, she walked backwards towards the bed, her tired gaze gripping his, and she sat upon the edge of the mattress. L remained in the open doorway, suddenly frozen to the wooden floor as she stared up at him from those quiet white sheets…

"Um," Amelia uttered, tugging at the end of a lock of auburn hair. "Aren't you going to-"

"Yes," L said as he shook his head mindlessly. "Momentary distraction, my apologies."

As if taking his first steps, he stumbled to the edge of the bed gracelessly and froze in front of her again. Her mouth was pouted open, as if granting him access to-

_And naturally, your mind reverts to that train of thought...as if you can't focus on any other thing at this moment…?_

Swiftly, Amelia scooted over and grabbed him by the shirt until he fell with a groan upon the bed, face down. "Amelia-"

"You were just standing there like a lost puppy," she said with a nervous titter of a laugh. "Couldn't just have you looming over me like that."

He lifted his head to look up at Amelia, whom was still sitting upright and staring down at him with a mashup of amusement and discomfiture. She pulled at a frayed strand of red hair, rolling it between her fingertips until it was coiled. Her sweater was slipping off her chalkwhite shoulder, causing L to stare at the skin that rested between her collarbone and the tired curve of her neck. Such a gentle slope betrayed her stubborn act and exposed the soft femininity that L was examining keenly.

_Fascinating…_

Amelia shrugged her bare shoulder, but made no further attempt to reset the fallen sleeve. Still sitting upright, L suddenly felt a notch too vulnerable before her and propped himself up on his elbows. "I believe our agreement was that you should rest, Amelia."

The redhead srunched her nose slightly at his words and flopped onto her back with a huff. "I really find this pointless, this whole 'resting' thing."

"You demanded that I join you. Was that pointless as well?"

Amelia kept her eyes on the ceiling. "No," she said quickly, "I just wanted you to waste time as well just to know how pointless this plan was. I wasn't going to be pointless alone."

"You're lying."

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye now. "And what makes you assume that?"

With a light sigh, L lowered himself until he rested on his back, his legs bent at the knees. "Because that is quite out of character for you, Amelia."

"Elaborate," she huffed out.

_Of course…you would have it no other way, would you?_

Her eyes remained on the white paint of the ceiling, and L blatantly gazed at her profile as she stared aimlessly upwards. Her sharp jaw was slightly slack, mouth gaping open minutely, her eyes narrowed. "You complained earlier of how you didn't wish to spend any time away from the case, even though no immediate action was being taken out," he began quietly, words muffled by his thumb at his lips. "So instead of insisting that I keep an eye on Misa, perchance, you ordered that I come with y-"

"Can't we just leave it at a more simple explanantion?" she asked suddenly, exasperated. "It's not too farfetched to say that I simply wanted…" She cleared her throat, eyes narrowing closer onto the ceiling. "Yes, never mind that."

"No," L objected, "certainly mind that." He began gnawing on his thumbnail, keeping his eyes wide upon her profile. "Please continue."

"Why should I?"

"Like you have said once…" He took a moment to remove his thumb from his lips. "I would like to hear you say it yourself."

She looked at him now, a distorted rage festering beneath the blue of her eyes, which slowly softened into something unreadable. Her lips pouted open, lingering between speaking and thinking at the same time.

"But of course, if that's a problem - _hngh!_"

The words were stolen from his throat when she swiftly rolled over atop him and rested her cheek against his chest, her arms splayed out to her side and overlapping his. Her thick woolen hair feathered across his neck and caped over her face in a whirlwind of deep red, and she spoke into his shoulder, "I don't want to say it."

Goodness, she was warm…that very warmth had the ability to render him speechless, but L swallowed hard and gently swiped the lock of her hair draped over his lips. "So, instead, you wish to lunge at me like an animal in heat and-"

"You asked, didn't you? You asked why I wanted you to come with me. You did, you just wanted me to say it aloud," she rambled. Her fingers shook against his palms. "And…and I didn't want to. Because you would have won, right?"

It was such an absurd answer, yet so incredibly appropriate for her, that L found himself gently curling his fingers around her hands and paying extra attention to how she reacted to the touch. She grasped his hands more urgently than he laced with her fingers and began scooting down her body upon his. "And how have I not won right now?" he whispered. It was all based on standards, namely _her_ standards, and he knew that very well, but the sensation of her cheek running slowly down his abdomen fractured all caring of who was defeating the other.

"Because you're trembling, too," Amelia said hoarsely. "You are…"

So very, very warm she was. L gripped her hands tighter at their sides as she rested her cheek upon his stomach. "Amelia?" he whispered, dragging out each syllable like honey unintentionally. Why did she have such a monstrous effect on his ability to remain unruffled? And should he despise it, lean into it, embrace it, ignore it and shuffle off to the surveillance room?

It felt all too natural with her pressed into him. It was much too contented for him to object, and far too exact for him to accept it wholly.

He blocked out all thought and lifted his shirt up a cautious three inches, allowing her warm cheek to graze the exposed skin. Her trembling fingers reached up to the hem of the shirt and gently lifted it higher up his pale chest, all the while her warm lips laying tentative brushes along his stomach. An involuntary jolt fluttered through his pulse and he glanced down at her. The deep red sweep of hair was sprawled across his chest carelessly, and as if he did not believe it was truly there, he reached down and weaved his long fingers through the waves and curls.

As absurd as it sounded in his mind, he could _feel_ the scarlet of her hair soaking his fingertips, fusing within his bloodstream, fogging over his eyes until they squinted shut. It was as though his brain was connected to a thin wire than Amelia was slowly slicing through with ease second that her cheek rested upon his stomach, and he was sitting back and letting her.

Letting her?

At this thought, L placed both palms on Amelia's shoulders and encouraged her to look at him. Eyes met, blue against charcoal.

She crawled up until her face hovered in front of his, her pale cheeks flushed and pink lips gently pouted open.

_You really are beautiful, Amelia Lasswell…_

"What are we doing?" Amelia whispered, eyes flitting from each feature of his face and back to his eyes again.

L hesitated before answering and placed one hand on her hip. "I'm afraid I don't know," he said beneath a whisper. One white finger reached out and gently wrapped a strand of the young woman's hair around it.

Amelia closed her eyes, thin eyelids concealing cobalt, and leaned in until her forehead was pressed against his. He absorbed every feature of her face; every fine slope, each angle where skin stretched over bone, every light freckle that took refuge on her cheeks. The narrow bridge of her nose, the pink flush of her lips, how incredibly _real_ she was in front of him, looming and glowing.

_You really are…_

"Then I'm afraid I don't either," she said softly.

It was only when she opened her eyes, just barely enough to look at him, that L leaned in and caught her lips with his.

* * *

She had deduced that she would never grow tired of this.

It was a warm rush that came with every one of these episodes, in which Amelia would shakily reach for his shoulders and allow her jaw to slacken. It was never too much of a task, for every nerve, cell and fiber in her body would light aflame and simmer down into a dizzying sort of tide. It would weaken her muscles, attenuate her spine, send every nagging thought to melt out of her pores until her entire being was consumed in his lips.

She pushed the detective's shirt up once more until his chest was exposed and felt the subtle twitching of the muscles beneath when she gently stroked over the chalky breadth of skin. One of L's warm hands came up to rest upon the back of her neck, pulling her closer, and she shivered when he tentatively trapped her bottom lip between his teeth and sucked upon it gently, experimenting with her and encouraging a reaction. A bewildered moan, exactly what he wanted out of her, drifted past her lips when his tongue shyly grazed the reddened circle of skin. Another hot rush, and she was deliciously _gone._

He released her lip and whispered against her mouth, "Amelia…"

It took every ounce of energy she had to respond, still pressed against his lips. "Mhm?"

L exhaled softly, catching his breath, and just when it appeared as though he would speak again, he seemed to change his mind and leaned in to her neck. Soft lips met with heated skin, and Amelia involuntarily tilted her head back at the feeling of his sensual assault upon the point of her pulse, her lips parting to keep her breathing steady. His kisses upon her sensitive neck were timorous, guarded, but lurking with a hunger that was gnawing away at both of them.

She was aware of being guided onto her back with a coaxing hand, and she welcomed it as her back met with the cool white sheets beneath her. Looking up at him with probing eyes, she saw that he was burying back down into her neck and lavishing it with deep, open-mouthed kisses that sent her pulse alight. Her fingers fluttered up to intwine within his thick hair and, with foggy awareness, she pushed her hips up into his, drawing out a gasp from his throat. He tore his mouth away from her neck and gazed down at her, scanning over her entire face before locking onto her eyes.

_Is this it…?_

Slowly, Amelia reached both hands down to the edge of L's jeans and latched onto the button, her eyes steady and wide upon his. "Do you…?"

"I should be asking you exactly that, Amelia," he reponded huskily. He swallowed hard and quickly glanced down to where her hands were placed. "But if you wish…"

"Then it would be difficult to turn back now, right? For both of us…" She cleared her throat, the nerves settling in her chest. She was nervous, anticipating, so incredibly _warm_ that it sent her brain into a fizz. Her hand moved down another two inches along his jeans. When she skimmed over something hard straining against the zipper, she heard L suppress a groan in the back of his throat and gave a subtle start.

Even at this touch, he merely swallowed again and said, "Please don't think that you're obliged to do this." His words were breathy, thick with longing but bounded with restraint, and he reached out to her cheek and gently cupped it. Soft, yet still with a childish curiosity.

"N-no, I want to, I do," Amelia stuttered, nodding. "I'm just…"

He leaned down closer to her face, cocking his head slightly. "Yes?"

Amelia took a shuddery breath before whispering, "Nervous."

"As am I."

_Breathe…_

Moments passed before either moved, and Amelia took the initiative to break the silent barrier that had grown thick between them. She rose up and sheepishly glided her lips across his, dragging a shiver out of the intangible man above her, and she savored the moment in which their lips simply touched, calm and tender. The fingers upon the button of L's jeans clumsily worked to unfasten it just as the nerves in her stomach twisted and coiled unbearably. _Breathe. Trust him. Just…breathe…_

Goodness, she could not recall being so nervous in her life. Safely pinned beneath his warmth, she contemplated the events that would soon follow if she managed the button loose and freed the cold metal zipper that distanced herself from pure _man_, something that she had never experienced in its entirety. This was skimming the surface.

Soon, she would be enveloped in _him_, and something in her told her that it would be more than she had anticipated beforehand.

The button was undone after another moment's work. She pulled the zipper down with less hassle, but the knot in the core of her stomach tightened another notch and cramped when her fingertips brushed against the brim of L's boxers. Amelia quickly retracted her shaking hands back and pushed awry strands of hair off of her face, trying to distract herself from the smoldering awkwardness spreading through her blood.

"Are you alright?" he whispered against her forehead.

She nodded a little too quickly, keeping her wide eyes on the man's now loosened jeans. Should she say something? Tell him to make the next move? What were lovers meant to do in the beginning stages of something so intimate without having done so before?

Another warm palm against her other cheek, and she fell into a kiss.

Like a sweet shot of medicine, she was a languid collection of muscle and skin being swept into the fond lips of a dark-haired genius. A surge of need flared down to between her parted legs, and she gladly gave into it instead of slapping it away like she had done for so many weeks.

_You can do this…now just…breathe…_

As if their entire journey had been set with a timebomb, the tinny chiming of a cell phone erupted from L's pocket.

The kiss was broken, as was Amelia's sanity. Gazing into thin air, she fought to catch her breath and see straight through foggy eyes. "Y-you…fuck…please tell me this isn't happening. Please. What…"

She looked at him now, and had she not been so enraged, she would have laughed at the manner that he bit upon his bottom lip and squinted his eyes shut. "And as always, I'm interrupted," he muttered bitterly, carefully rolling off of her and pulling his phone out of his jeans. "I should expect this from here on…"

"Please excuse me," Amelia moaned, "while I go fling myself from yonder balcony, will you?" She threw her hand to the glass door by the bureau, in all honesty, and slapped her palm against her heated forehead.

"I take it you don't wish to pick up where we left off, then? Suicide would most certainly prevent that." L shot her a crooked smirk through his kiss-swollen lips before flipping open his phone and answering with a, "Yes?"

Amelia remained sprawled out onto the bed, legs still parted wantonly and breathing heavily, and deduced that the call had been regarding Light's confinement. Such a thought sent a fresh blitz of odium towards the young man, he having been the cause of their distraction, but she simply kept her palm pressed against her forehead and desperately tried to regain her breathing. _Even when he's away from here, the bastard finds a way to fuck up everything…_

"Yes, thank you, Watari." L snapped his phone shut and turned his eyes to Amelia, whom did not budge on the bed. "Light's confinement has been set it stone. It would be best for us to keep a close watch on him for any signs of suspicious activity."

She jerked her head up at the sagacity of his words. "How the hell do you keep your head straight? I don't…how the _hell_ do you-"

"Oh, believe me," L added smoothly, "I'm just as debauched as you are right now, if not more so."

"Then why don't you show it? Get pissed!" She threw her arms out for dramatic effect, but only succeeded in falling back onto the bed with a troubled grunt.

She heard the bed squeak and looked up to see L hovering over her once more, unkempt strands of inky black hair falling aimlessly down his forehead. "I prefer getting even," he said softly before laying a chaste kiss against the tip of her red-flushed nose.

* * *

**So I need sleep NOW. Fluid in the lungs is not a pleasant thing to endure without rest. **

**Reviews are, as always, greatly appreciated. Thank yer!**


	23. Haggard

**Just a small warning…this chapter is not happy in the slightest. But you can't hate me too much, for it's a huge advancement, believe me…**

**So, sigh. This chapter made me sad writing it.**

**Anyway, still don't own Death Note.**

* * *

Light Yagami's cell was just as cold, grey and vacant as Amelia had imagined it would be.

As if straight out of a cliché prison from a crime show, a thick row of bars stretched out across the barren cell like a blackened spine. His holding room was nothing more than cement walls, a makeshift bed, and a troubled looking toilet in the far left corner, and Amelia took bitter pleasure at the image of Light shuddering in disgust at its less-than-pristine condition.

She was surveying the cell through the screen of the laptop, but she could _feel_ the cold floor, _taste_ the limited, chrome-like air. A quick flit of her eyes and she saw Light, head bowed as he sat on the floor against the bed, hands restrained behind his back.

_There you are…sitting on the floor of your request. What do you want, Light…? What will come out of this in the end…? Surely there has to be some underlying motive…surely…? _

Amelia ran her fingers through her tangled hair, pulling it up off of her neck. She narrowed her eyes on the image of the young man, contemplating.

_If I'm right and you are Kira…what caused it…? What was the snapping point…? No, there was no snap, I'm almost certain of it…what's helping you kill, Light…? Could my theory actually be correct…? Is there some cloud over your head that's protecting you from us…?_

She inhaled sharply and peered closer into the screen.

_We need evidence. There's no doubt about it…but that cloud, that fucking cloud is protecting you, whatever it is…you've managed to get past even L for this long without anything solid to convict you…but how…?_

She vaguely heard footsteps approaching the surveillance room, but she ignored them and dug her fingernails into her scalp in heavy concentration. Rising up onto her toes and rolling her ankles, she heard the gratifying popping resonate from the stiff bones of her exhausted feet.

_Christ, I need an Advil…and some tea…a nice cup of fucking tea…and maybe a-_

"Matsuda-san is going out to-"

"_Je_sus Christ!" she exclaimed, whipping around at the unexpected voice. She should have expected the soft voice to belong to L, whom stood in the doorway with his hands deeply rooted in his pockets, his mouth still parted from being cut off from speaking. He cocked his head slightly, as if asking to continue. Amelia placed her palm against her forehead and shook her head in embarrassment. "Sorry," she said weakly, "I…I was just thinking too hard."

"You have a tendency of doing that," L said, taking a few steps toward her. He seemed shy, more gangly than normal in the small room, and he scratched the back of his head roughly. "Then again, it's a habit of mine, too."

"Fitting." Amelia tugged at the strap of her tank top to stay upon her shoulder, trying to keep her nervous hands busy. She employed her other hand to fiddle distractedly with her earlobe. "Now, what were you saying about…?"

L's eyes widened in acknowledgment and nodded once. "Oh, yes. Matsuda-san is going out to get more coffee and other items, and is taking requests before he leaves."

"And you're asking me instead of him?" Amelia asked with a teasing smile.

L scratched the back of his calf with his toes and nodded once more. "I figured I wouldn't be the cause for delay."

Amelia released a tired sigh and dropped both arms down to her sides. "Couple extra brain cells? A hatchet? A few tubs of morphine? Surprise me."

A small smile touched the corner of L's mouth, a crooked sort of smile that sent Amelia's pulse ahead by another beat. Her mind was still in a misty rush of heat and disorientation at having been a few minutes away from…in her terms, something that was eating away at her concentration and persistence, but had the ability to morph her into a shivering, stuttering fool when finally faced with it. The opportunity, save for the distraction of the phone call, had looked her directly in the eye and pulled her beneath its warm, tender charm. It had materialized itself into the chalky, disheveled man that she was now admitting love towards, and had kissed her lips until she almost believed for a second that she could submit to it entirely.

But, of course, Light's confinement just had to have been finalized at that exact second, and she had been left to lay on her back, panting and livid, and try to ward off the baffling urge to strangle something.

She took another deep breath and sat down on the armchair in front of the laptop, staring at the floor. "I don't know, I just feel so…out of it."

"Understandable," L said quietly. "I can't say that I am all too here at the moment, either." He moved closer to the armchair, but kept a safe distance from her.

It seemed that they had both surprised themselves with their hunger for the other. They had almost…

_Stop thinking about it, you depraved demon twit. _

She cleared her throat and ran her fingers through the thick mass of hair falling down her shoulders. Tangled and frizzy, just as she had expected. Glancing back up at L, she saw that he was staring at the floor with wide eyes, still scratching the back of his calf with his toes. Amelia released a shaky sigh. "I think we could both use some tea, don't you think?" she asked quickly.

She bounded up out of the chair, nearly toppling over at the swiftness of her actions, and took a few steps towards the doorway before suddenly stopping. L had taken her hand softly into his, which forced her to look up at him. "Y-yes?"

There was a moment where he just looked at her, his eyes warm and questioning. So grey…surely she would be swallowed into such a dark, dark grey, flung back into that storm of yearning that came with every glance, every touch of his hand, every feverish flashback.

Her hand was trembling within his.

_I…_

What had she been off to distract herself with? Her mind was a blissful blank as she stared up at the man that was gripping her entire being with such a soft touch.

_…want you…_

She made the preceding move and reached her free hand out to rest against his chest. "Can you…uh…"

Forgetting what she was saying. Another symptom of this illness that he had her wrapped and warm and wanton beneath.

"Can I…?" he asked, tilting his head.

Amelia shook her head slowly, opened her mouth to speak, but closed it at the realization that there was nothing to say. Clearing her throat, she removed her hand from his chest and began to turn away. "Never mind. Sorry," she muttered.

"No, I should be," he responded quietly. He softly pulled her back to him, but held her hand a degree softer than before. "There isn't much I can say to explain this."

Her fingers twitched around his nervously. "Coming from you."

"I could say the same for you, Amelia," L replied beneath his breath.

Amelia scrunched her nose, a defense mechanism that she should have grown out of at six years old. "I like having answers to things that perplex me. It's a natural human reaction."

Her voice would have been ten degrees colder if he had not taken his other hand and begun softly stroking her fingers, staring at them in wonder. "I think we have been quite educated on natural human reactions by now, Amelia," he said with a cryptic sort of smirk casted down at her hand.

"That was uncalled for," Amelia said sharply. Even still, she was biting back a sheepish grin, laying it on thick that she was offended. "Your perverted comments are not-"

L experimentally brought her hand to hover in front of his lips; contemplating kissing the tips of her fingers, Amelia assumed, seeing as his lips parted slightly before smirking deeper. "Perverted?" he asked with a tilt of his head. "No, I believe you could only call me that based off experience, wouldn't you agree?"

"Are you insinuating that I'm a pervert?" Amelia said breathlessly, eyes narrowed, the hidden smile burning beneath her lips. "I suppose you're a hypocrite now as well?"

L stared up at the ceiling for a moment, thumb against his lips, and dropped his gaze back to her. "No, I'm just making a point."

"Wha-"

She was cut short by the unexpected closeness of their bodies brought forth with L suddenly pulling her to his chest. Clenching her fists to refrain from blindly clutching onto him, she turned her head and stared at the floor. Beige carpeting, bland and lifeless. But if she were to look at him instead, she would risk being scalded once more by her own sickening, unfinished thoughts.

She chose the former with reluctance.

"I do have to admit," L whispered huskily into her ear, "my hatred for cell phones has increased a tenfold today."

"You don't say?" Amelia said with an airy indifference, in spite of perspiration beginning to collect in the creases of her palms.

"Mm, yes." He brushed his lips lightly against her collarbone, earning a jolt from her. Amelia mentally strangled herself and bit upon her bottom lip. "For the image of you beneath me…"

Amelia felt her eyelids flutter shut. Her pulse migrated to her stomach and rooted itself lower into her sweatpants.

"Waiting, blushing, your breathing becoming heavier…I fear it was nearly too much."

His fingers traveled up to her jawline and stroked their way up to a lock of hair that fell free from her careless bun. Amelia swallowed hard and cleared her throat. "I would like to know what you're…what you _think_ you're doing." She cleared her throat once more, even though there was nothing to rid herself of. "Right now. I would like to know what you…"

Another mindless mistake. Another spree of forgetting what words her lips were forming. Her mental strangling grew more violent and she clenched her fists harder. "Because I think it's quite, er, uncouth a-and I don't think that-"

"You're quite enticing when you tremble, Amelia," he said softly by her earlobe. "I would like to think that it is from me…but that would make me arrogant, am I right?"

She felt her knees go limp momentarily when he gave her pressure point a gentle sweep of a kiss, moving to her jaw and back to her earlobe again.

_Oh, fuckery…stop that! Get your mind out of a twist, you putz! Fuck!_

The warmth between her legs was a touch above pestering, and held her back from jerking around and demanding a serious explanation from the dark-haired man embracing her closely. But seeing as her body was reacting in a maddening agreement with his murmurings and feathery kisses, she was both numbed and fueled.

A truly _wicked_ pairing of sensations, to say the least. She was infuriated.

Reaching up and gripping him hard on the shoulder, she pushed herself off of him and stared at him square in the eyes. "What the _fuck_ was that supposed to be?" she asked, breathing heavily. "Some sort of…o-of vaudeville performance for you?"

He was grinning at her now that his thumb had returned to the crest of his lips. "That was me being perverted, of course," he said with the simplicity of a child. "Once again, I wanted to make a point, and I couldn't have done so without a proper example."

Amelia wiped her palms feverishly on her thighs to rid herself of the excited perspiration that had formed during his exemplar. "Point?" she asked incredulously. "What point could have possibly come out of you grabbing me and talking like _that_?"

L's slender shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. "The fact that you enjoyed it would suffice."

Almost immediately, Amelia released a frustrated huff of air and began forcibly twisting her earlobe between her fingertips. "Don't flatter yourself," she muttered.

"That wasn't exactly a rebuff."

"And I did not exactly enjoy your little game, either," she lied. Truth be told, her blood had not cooled down even after a minute of attempting to regain her mentality.

"And you seem to forget that I can tell when you are lying. Exactly."

"And you have a problem with admitting you are wrong, _exactly._ And I am not lying." She pursed her lips and breathed out harshly through her nose, all the while shaking off the heat within her stomach from his previous test. _You know he's not going to drop this until one of you wins…and that is NOT going to him, I'll be sure of that…_

L took a few steps towards her, in which Amelia countered by stepping back. Another touch and she would be gone, she knew that. The expression on L's face, however, still held onto a frustrating innocence that played with the smoldering inquisitiveness that Amelia knew was reaching out to her via grey eyes. "I recall all the moments that you have blushed lately have been caused by something of a physical encouragement, that in which you are doing right n-"

"Can you please cut the therapist nonsense for once?" Amelia said in a harsh whisper. "If we're going to talk about how I 'blush' at every given moment, just say it straight."

She froze the second the words left her mouth. _Bad idea…_

L frowned slightly. "There's no need to be ashamed of it, I find it rather absorbing."

Amelia rolled her eyes and began tugging at the hem of her T-shirt of an unsightly yellow hue. "We're not sponges. Anyway, I feel no need to explain why I blush."

"You don't have to, I already know why."

"Then please fill me in on why!"

"Because you are embarrassed at how easily aroused you get. That's why."

There was a silence in which Amelia glared at the man currently peering at her like a test subject. There was no hint of remorse in his eyes, which she knew better than to expect, but she, on the other hand, was indisputably, unquestionably, bona fide _pissed._

Four steps toward him and she had him locked.

She was well aware of how little grace she had when it came to these events, but she kept it in the back of her head and crashed her lips upon his. There was far too much enjoyment on her part that came out of the startled gasp from L's throat before he was able to grip her by the hair and guide her to the wall. She lost track of where her hands were grabbing and simply followed instinct, her eyes squinting shut and gripping onto his shoulder roughly.

He was taking control, pressing his chest into hers and tilting his head to the side to gain better access to her feverish mouth, but Amelia quickly collected the command of the situation when her hand shakily traveled down to his jeans and lingered, just long enough for L's mouth to falter upon hers.

It was then that she pulled away from him, trying to hide the wicked smirk tugging at her lips.

"Let's see," she muttered thoughtfully, "twenty odd seconds, at the most, and you're already in quite the awkward situation. Interesting, no?"

L's eyes, which once were lidded and hazy, were suddenly round and gleaming as he stared down at her. Amelia backed away from him and began walking off, allowing the smirk to bloom. "So, please, don't bring up how easily aroused _I_ am."

_Score…_

She looked over her shoulder at him momentarily. "Now, wasn't Matsuda expecting word from you?"

She grinned to see his face flushed, just as hers had been. L nodded briefly, scratching the back of his head jaggedly. "Yes, he was," he said, a slight tremor leaking through his calm exterior. "Excuse me."

As he shuffled out of the surveillance room, Amelia could not help but think, _Now, what will be his counterattack to _that?

* * *

"Man…Light must get really bored just sitting there all day," Matsuda said quietly from behind L's armchair. Three hours had passed from the officer's return, when the task force had leapt upon the opportunity of a fresh supply of caffeine and, in L's case, cake.

"The goal was not to entertain him, Matsuda-san," L dryly responded. "Although I'm sure he would react well if we were to ask him to join us in a game of charades." He took an enthusiastic bite of his cake and heard Aizawa laugh beneath his breath, followed by a snicker from Amelia.

"Yeah, uh…sorry, Ryuzaki."

"You have to excuse Ryuzaki, Matsuda," Amelia said from the back of the room. L felt a corner of his mouth rise in a smile, prepared for any comment she had to throw in his direction. "He has a tendency of being overly sarcastic as his defense mechanism."

"Uh…ok, Lise, sure thing."

Another bite of cake and L shot a rebuttal. "And you must forgive Lise-san, for she is virtually _born_ out of defense mechanisms."

Matsuda stuttered for a moment, unsure of who to listen to. "Yeah, Ryuzaki, ok-"

"Oh, and Ryuzaki's manner of constantly feeling the need to belittle others through mordant comments is no less than amusing. You must excuse him again, Matsuda."

Before Matsuda could reply, L swallowed his large mouthful of cake and said, "Perhaps, but Lise-san's fashion of taking even the most minute remarks to heart is a sign of a superiority complex. Please excuse the following denial."

"I do _not_ have a superiority complex," Amelia spat out without hesitation, overlapping his words.

Aizawa laughed again and muttered a "wow", in which Amelia must have heard since she served him a hearty, "Shut up."

Digging his fork into the last remaining bite of cake, L asked, "Did you excuse her, Matsuda-san?"

"Y-yeah, Ryuzaki," Matsuda said timidly.

"Superb."

A few mumblings from Amelia, and the room was silent once more. L took the opportunity to observe the confined Light Yagami through his laptop, toying with his lip and returning to deep thought.

_I cannot find any loophole for Light not being Kira…and setting himself up to be confined would be opportune for him, if there was a possible way for him to prove his innocence, which would be if criminals continued to die. But remembering what Amelia spoke of before…what if Kira is a much larger group than we anticipated…? No, not even a large group, per se…even one more Kira out there would distort my theory that both Kiras have been confined, thus throwing off the entire case until the next Kira would be captured…but if the killings cease entirely, then would it be enough to say that Light and Misa are Kiras…? _

Aizawa and Matsuda began speaking, but L's ears were blocked off to nothing more than the young man on his screen, slumped over and glaring at the floor.

_If criminals continue to die even with Light and Misa confined, could it mean that they are simply no longer Kira…? In that case, we would have a whole new branch of an investigation in finding that current Kira, while at the same time observing Light and Misa for any sign that they have regained their powers…further backing up Amelia's theory that it may be a group effort…Amelia…_

His eyes widened at the turn that his thought process had taken. He sullenly stared at his empty plate of cake.

_She is indeed becoming a distraction…but her help is greatly needed, and she has made some very remarkable points regarding the case…then again, my thoughts are revolving more and more around her when I should be tending to the case…but I can't very well forget about her, nor could I ask her to leave the case when she has been assisting me for this long…_

"Ryuzaki."

_But any added distraction cannot be tolerable…perhaps I should speak with her…_

"Ryuzaki."

_No, that would not end well…knowing her, something heavy and valuable would be thrown at my head…_

"Ryuzaki!"

His alias finally reached his ears and he looked over his shoulder sharply. "Yes?"

Soichiro Yagami sighed and approached L slowly, a pensive expression on his face. "Ryuzaki…I think it would be best if I were removed from the task force."

In spite of the collective gasp that came from the police officers, excluding Amelia, L bit down upon the prongs of his fork and allowed the older man to continue.

"I…I don't feel that it is appropriate for me to remain on a case that my son is a suspect for. A primary suspect, at that. It's inevitable for me to have personal feelings stand in the way of working to the best of my abilities…which is why I feel that this move is absolutely necessary."

L frowned, taking the fork out of his mouth to speak. "This is no place for personal feelings, I agree," he said softly.

"It's not easy for a father to see his son be suspected of being the most notorious serial killer in this day and age," Soichiro explained solemnly. "There isn't a better reason for me to resign than having my own son…Light possibly being Kira…I don't know what I would do if it were completely proven to be true…"

"The possibilities of what you might do under those circumstances are quite unpleasant, to be honest." L dropped his fork back onto the empty plate and cocked his head, staring at it as if asking for an answer to the case from it. "But if I were you, it would be best to resign only if Light is proven to be Kira with solid evidence."

_Evidence that hasn't been found yet…evidence that I need…_

"You may be right," Soichiro said quietly, "but with the way things are going now…"

When the man was unvoiced for awhile, L looked over his shoulder just in time for a part of the man's judgment shattered and dropped to the floor.

"Ryuzaki, please confine me, too!" he pleaded. "Before the suspicions for my son become too much to handle! It's all I would be able to do being away from this case!"

An awkward buzz filled the air and hovered above L's head, the others waiting for his response. He was surprised that Amelia had not thrown in her input, seeing as she showed great respect for the chief, but L sighed and turned around in his chair completely, his chin resting on the back arch. "I will have Watari prepare your confinement immediately."

The chief noticeably softened and exhaled slowly. "Thank you, Ryuzaki."

"We will keep you updated on any advancements the case makes while you are away, Yagami-san." L idly picked at a fraying thread in the upholstery of the armchair. "And please, feel free to keep your cell phone on and remain in contact with family and outsiders. Is this suitable?"

Soichiro nodded, still taking in deep breaths and exhaling shakily. "Yes, it is. Thank you again, Ryuzaki."

The buzzing returned to the air, in which L shot a glance at Amelia. She was pulling at her earlobe to a nearly violent degree, staring at the floor with narrowed eyes. The cut neckline of her T-shirt hung off her pale shoulder, and a tired grey ring had the same effect beneath her eyes. Her gaze flit upwards and met his.

If he was not mistaken, which he rarely was in his lifetime, a bleak veil of tears fogged over her eyes.

* * *

_This is no place for personal feelings, I agree…_

She used to laugh at people like her, those who asked for advice yet already knew the answer. There was a time when she rolled her eyes at stories of young women who bit their bottom lips and fought back spells of weeping, all the while being perfectly aware that they walked directly into the situation.

And, according to some, she was a hypocrite.

"Stop it," she whispered cruelly to herself, tugging at the ends of her hair to occupy her trembling fingers. "Stop it, stop it, stop it."

She opened the window of the bathroom and took a gratifying sweep of air into her constricted lungs. She knew the moment that a single tear would come loose from her swelling eyes, L would make his sublime entrance complete with tilted heads and thumbs against lips and question why she was on the verge of cracking.

And for that, she merely breathed in the city and squinted her eyes closed. If she could not see the problem, it did not exist, and she would cling onto this notion until he appeared by the doorway of the bathroom. She was fully prepared for him to find her.

It was no grand feat that she was not crying. It took all she had not to, and the feeling of cool air against her face gave her the allusion that she was.

She did not move, even when she heard his voice.

"You have this way of vanishing to a different room every time." His voice was soft, guarded, yet she remained tense. "Is there any reason why the bathroom seemed appealing today?"

She squinted her eyes so tightly that she saw fogs of diluted colors beneath her eyelids. "No reason in particular."

L seemed to stay still, however far away he was from her. "Then might I ask why you've vanished this time?"

Amelia pursed her lips fiercely. "You have ways of getting answers. Start your own little investigation and find out for yourself."

She surprised herself with her heightened level of bitterness, but made no attempt to apologize for it. She was, in a word, hurt, and would have him know it in whatever manner she wished.

"It would be much easier if you were to tell me, seeing as I don't have nearly enough time for another case."

Amelia whipped around, throwing her theory of not looking at him out the window. "Just like you don't have time for 'personal feelings', right?"

He visibly froze, but returned to neutral in a matter of seconds. Amelia's anger fed off of his reaction, or lack thereof, and her eyes flashed viciously. "Which is basically a less direct way of saying that you don't have time for being human at all."

L shoved his fists into his pockets and kept his gaze steady upon her. "That is hardly the meaning behind it at all…"

"Then what is the meaning?" Amelia demanded, throwing her hands up into the air animatedly. "Am I not worth having knowledge of matters that involve me?"

"I never said that-"

"Yet you said it. You _said_ it, I heard you. Do you want me to repeat it? Have you forgotten that you said it?"

Her words were beginning to grow tight in her throat; she was going to cry. But _no_, no, she could not cry, because the risk of him reaching out and touching her hand or shoulder or even pulling her into his chest was just too raw for her to invite.

She looked away from him and turned back to the window, taking in deep breaths of the cool air of Japan and exhaling her vehemence. It seemed to multiply within her chest, however, for the relief was only temporary.

"I haven't forgotten, but you need to at least _attempt_ to breathe or else you'll lose circulation and-"

"Fuck breathing!" she blurted, turning back around him. "Just listen to me!"

L's eyes remained calm, but the muscles surrounding his jaw were stiffened subtly. Slowly, he turned to close the door behind him and turned on the faucet, drowing out any sound to be heard outside the bathroom. He looked at her again, taking another step towards her. "I never stopped listening, Amelia," he affirmed quietly.

Amelia gripped the windowsill to steady herself. Her anger was sending her balance into a fizzle, and collapsing would only give him further leeway to touch her. "Then explain why you suddenly decide that it's okay to dispose of me! And now, of all times, now that I'm quite sure that I've-"

_…fallen for you hard enough…_

She stopped herself and clenched her fists when she saw him lean in to her in anticipation of her words. "Oh, just - just _never mind._" The tears returned to her eyes and she was swiftly losing the battle with them. "You've already said it yourself; this is no place for feelings, especially when it's already too late to do anything about them."

She was cracking…she was slipping and gripping onto the ledge of a window because her own legs could not support her. There were _personal feelings_ involved, and she had been touched, and a man had told her that he loved her, and she felt something _returned_ after so many years of denial and anonymity - and all was to be brushed off her shoulders and left to litter the ground, because there was no _place_ for it to fit.

She did not fit anywhere. If she took on a case that became her life, the longing to catch Kira would be forever shared with her longing to be held by L. Every second that she would focus on a new piece of information or a blossoming thought concerning evidence, the memory of his lips upon hers and his hands cautiously placed against her hips or the small of her back would drown out all common sense.

Her logic was failing her. There was a part of her that begged for him to pull her into his arms and send the sweet abandon to wrack her body once more, but another part that would slap him away and flee the scene.

"Do you remember," L inquired thoughtfully, "when I told you that it is dangerous for me to love you?"

He reached out to touch her face, but she quickly wheeled out of the way. "Yes, and then I kissed you and all was right in the world," she spat.

"Because neither of us could control it."

She stared back out the window, her earlobe becoming sore from her assault to it. "Because it's one thing in my life that I didn't think needed to be controlled," she said, her voice becoming hoarse from restraining tears. "I would have chosen against it if I could have."

"But seeing as neither of us could have done that…"

She glanced over her shoulder at him and saw that he was considerably closer to her than before. She shifted her weight again and nearly stumbled, grabbing onto the windowsill once more to regain her balance. "Th-then you can't say that…that this is no place for love because it's not _your _place to decide that! I would have decided ages ago not to love you because I _knew_ it was wrong!"

"Amelia, please calm down-"

"No!" she shouted. "No, I _won't_ calm down! Don't tell me to fucking calm down!" She pressed her back into the wall, trying to wedge herself out of the way of his reach.

He stopped reaching, back away and stared at her. More fuel to the fire on her part.

"I can't just let you go. I can't pretend that something isn't here, because it is, it is and there's nothing I can do about it. I didn't _want_ to love you, L, because that's exactly who you are, _L._ And I'm just some girl that knew you and wanted to play detective for awhile because it was the only thing I'm good at. And then, then I see how you've changed and what you've become a-and I start wondering if there will ever be the chance that you can see the same in me." She took a second to catch her haggard breath, nearly choking on the pent up steam in her chest. And all L could do was _stare_.

"A-and then I find out that you do, and I know it's wrong, I know it's not supposed to be like this because I'm me and you're you and I can't change that, and I w-wouldn't want to because it wouldn't be the same," she stammered. She was tripping over her words and not trying to pull herself back up. "But I'm not that willing to let go of this, L, because I can't, and I won't, and there's nothing I can ever do _ever_ to even begin to try a-and-"

All control that remained within her fled in a rush of sobs and staggered breathing as she slid down the wall, hugging her knees and burying her face in her arms.

_Is this what it feels like to completely, utterly break…?_

She did not have time to relish the feeling of release, for she became aware of a warm hand grazing the top of her head and resting on her cheek. "Look at me," L whispered. "I need to see you."

Slowly lifting her head, she was met with the disheveled appearance of the man she revoltingly loved. There was a fear beneath those grey eyes that she had become so entangled in; his face was paled until it was nearly transluscent. His hand did not leave her face, and she already felt herself leaning into it and closing her eyes. He began to speak, low and soft. "I've just realized…that you are beautiful when you cry."

Amelia bit upon her bottom lip, wanting nothing more than to breathe in that voice, that touch.

"Although I would never want to see you like this," L whispered. A lone finger dragged down her cheekbone and rested atop her lips. "But you are indeed beautiful, Amelia…"

She opened her mouth to speak. Nothing came, nothing but air and a choked gasp.

His other hand cupped her face gently, tired eyes probing each and every reddened and tear-streaked feature. "And I do indeed…love you, however much we wish I didn't."

"I…"

_…love you, too…_

He was leaning in to her face, more cautiously than he ever had before, and hovered just before he was able to kiss her. Her eyelids remained open, studying every inch of his face as if she had never had the opportunity to do so before.

There was a minute scar just beneath his eye, barely tinted pink and just stretching a centimeter. She began reaching out to touch it, but pulled her hand back quickly and looked down at his lips.

_…love you, too…no place for personal feelings…_

Before she could talk herself out of it, she whispered, "I'm leaving."

There was no sound from L, but he backed away from her face slowly, his cradling of her face weakening. The look in his eyes was unreadable, bordering on something between a numb shock and a dejected disenchantment. No words, but a gaping question that neither could answer.

She felt the need to repeat herself when he stopped backing away. "I-I'm leaving. I'm leaving the case."

His stare was growing unbearable; it was dead in the lowest form of the word, yet somehow burning with an afterlife that haunted her. She placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away, breathing heavily and feeling another breakage growing in her chest. "This is what we want, isn't it?" she whispered shakily. "No more distractions."

L's hands fell to his knees did not try to reach out for her again. No attempt, just a gaze that was infuriating her and sending every nerve into overdrive. A surge of rage erupted in her throat and expeled itself in one final statement. "The greatest detective in the world doesn't _need_ any distractions," she said with a bitter finality.

She stood up, leaving L crouched on the floor and staring at the space that she once occupied, and hurried out of the bathroom.

Her cell phone contacts only contained one W. With one final click, she pressed send and slunk into the bedroom to pack.

_…love you, too…_

* * *

**So she called Watari…a sign that she's not going **_**too**_** far. But still…I'm frowning. Poor things…**

**Anywho, please review! It's all appreciated and blah blabbity blah.**


	24. Balustrade

**So this is the fastest I've ever popped out a chapter, but with a twist in the plot it's so much easier to write…and while this may be a shorter chapter, I'm quite proud of it!**

**And we get a little Aizawa POV here as well! I really do love him.**

**Death Note does not belong to phollie.**

* * *

"Aizawa…do you think they're gonna…you know, _do it_?"

The officer shot an incredulous look at the young, shaggy-haired man on the couch beside him. He was looking at him almost sheepishly, as if expecting him to have an accurate answer as to what was occuring just down the hall. "What the hell gives you that idea, Matsuda? They could just be talking."

Matsuda shrugged his shoulders and placed his coffee mug onto the table. "Well, I heard Lise yelling and, uh…"

"So what makes you think that they would be 'doing it'? And for god's sake, can't you think of a more adult term to call it?" Aizawa shook his head in pity of the other man's limited vocabulary and sipped his coffee bitterly. He had not slept in nearly three days, and it had taken all of the energy that he possessed to shave that morning before arriving to the suite. His wife had taken a liking to either ignoring him or pestering him about his lack of time spent at home. In the meantime, Aizawa had taken a liking to pretending none of it existed.

"Well, the couple in all the movies get in fights and yell at each other, but then forgive each other and then…"

"And then they 'do it', Matsuda?" Aizawa asked with thematic air quotations. He was so tired…and yet Matsuda had the audacity to ask him whether or not he thought the two head detectives on the case were currently fucking in the bathroom.

Matsuda blushed and nodded. "Uh-huh, exactly!"

There was a moment where Aizawa could do nothing but stare at the younger man in disbelief, but remembering that it was Matsuda, he sighed again and took another bland sip of coffee. "No, they're not going to 'do it'. Now get your mind out of the gutter."

"It wasn't in the gutter…" Matsuda mumbled, turning away from Aizawa and staring off into space.

Aizawa returned to his coffee and blocked him out of his already garbled mind.

Footsteps were heard from behind the couch coming from the hallway, and Aizawa turned his head to see L slouching into the surveillance room. He kept his mouth shut once he saw the lifeless expression in the black-haired man's eyes; Matsuda, on the other hand, did the complete opposite.

"Hey, Ryuzaki, is Lise okay? I heard her yelling and, well, uh…she sounded upset."

Aizawa rolled his eyes and scratched the stubble on his jaw. "Most people _are_ upset when they yell, after all," he muttered irritably.

L did not respond, but looked up from the ground to gaze at Matsuda blankly. He pushed his fists into his pockets and slumped into his armchair directly in front of his laptop.

_So I guess it really didn't go well, _Aizawa thought, _and I was right that they definitely didn't do it, like Matsuda thought…I had a feeling those two had something going on, but what could have caused such a sudden twist…? Oh, never mind, they'll probably be fine by tomorrow anyway, they're both stubborn as asses…_

But when Lise appeared from the bedroom, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder and red rings heavy around her bloodshot eyes, he considered the theory that things would not be satisfactory the next day.

"Oh, hey, Lise!" Matsuda greeted cluelessly. "Are you going to the gym or something? Uh, not to say that you need to or anything, but-"

"No, Matsuda," Lise said quietly. She gripped onto the strap of her bag tighter, her eyes hard intent on the floor. "I thought I should tell you and Aizawa myself that I'll be leaving the case for the time being."

Aizawa could not repress the gasp that came with her announcement. _Wh-what…? Leaving the case…? But…but that's so unlike her..! She seemed so hell bent on this case…!_

"Leaving the case?!" Matsuda shrieked. "But why? You can't just up and leave like this, Lise!"

Lise's face remained grave, her eyes never leaving the floor. "It's something that I have to do for now. I'm sorry, but it's-" Her voice cracked and she cringed. "- it's necessary."

As Matsuda pleaded with her, Aizawa took the chance to look over at Ryuzaki with narrowed eyes, whom was staring at the floor with round, vacant eyes. _It would make sense…she was yelling, he's not answering any questions about it, and Ryuzaki said it himself that personal feelings could not be in this case…she must have heard it and was hurt; that's how any woman would react…_

Lise was not responding to Matsuda's frantic questions as garrulous as Aizawa knew was her custom, but he kept his eyes on Ryuzaki to catch any remote sign of a retort. When there was nothing, he gritted his teeth and turned to Lise again. "So you just expect to leave the case and move on with your life? Aren't you supposed to be this big-shot detective like Ryuzaki?"

He spat his name out, like a bad swig of whiskey. Lise noticeably stiffened and pursed her lips. "I'm not a 'big-shot', Aizawa," she said in a lethal tone. "I never said I was."

"So you're admitting to being nothing? Is that it?"

Her blue eyes shot open, and when it appeared as though she would fracture right before his eyes, she turned on her heel sharply and made her way to the door. "And you wonder why I'm leaving."

"Have you forgotten that you're a huge part of this case?" he pushed, standing up. "And you're just going to leave catching Kira up to us now?"

She glanced at him over her shoulder, her eyes glistening and incensed. "I never said I would stop trying to catch Kira, Aizawa." She readjusted her duffel bag and flung it to rest on her back, then shot Ryuzaki a toxic glance. "Don't assume things that aren't your _place_."

Aizawa was positive that the tightening of Ryuzaki's shoulderblades was not meant to be as obvious as it was when she said her final word. The door swung open, and Amelia exited in a flurry.

Aizawa spun around to face Ryuzaki with arms outstretched to the open door. "Do you just not get it?" he hollered. "If you loved her, you would _do something_!"

Ryuzaki barely turned to look at him through thick strands of black hair. "Please inform me on how any of this is of your concern, Aizawa-san," he said quietly, yet with a heavy undertone that Aizawa could not properly translate.

It did not change the fact that Lise was leaving the case, and that Ryuzaki was doing nothing about it.

"This _is_ my concern when one of the head detectives leaves us in the dark here," Aizawa said sharply. "And you can't expect everyone to sit back and not do shit about it like you are!"

"You have no idea as to what happened, Aizawa-san," Ryuzaki barked. The serration in his voice took Aizawa off-guard temporarily. "And it wasn't my decision to make for her. Understand that."

His jaw was beginning to ache from the intensity in which he gritted his teeth, so he switched his tension to rest in his fists, clenching them into whitewashed knots. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't at least _try _to stop her! Do you even know where she's going?"

There was a painful silence before Ryuzaki spoke. "She didn't tell me, but I assume that Watari will care for her for n-"

"You _assume_. Is that all you know how to do, Ryuzaki?"

He could tell that his comment bit down hard on Ryuzaki's concience, for he saw the younger man jerk slightly in his chair. He says something that Aizawa never expected the grand L to say: "Aizawa, do kindly shut _up_."

His honorific dropped, the statement held much more power than he imagined. Without warning, the shard of angry, inflamed energy left him and he slouched, exhausted. Aizawa stepped back, turned around, and trudged off in search of a fresh cup of coffee.

* * *

There would be no possible way that she could ever return to her apartment, and Amelia clung onto this fact as she sat in the backseat of Watari's cab.

No, she would _never_ sit by that window and stare out onto the washed out streets that she rarely visited, all because she had left the scene of her own solitude locked away with an eviction notice plastered to the door. She would refuse offerings of money. She would slap away the idea of drinking stale coffee on her futon and flipping through yellowed books with the muffled news in the background; all of her belongings would have been cleared out long ago anyway.

Which was why Watari's proposal had dug her out of the possibility of being homeless.

She would reside in a lavished suite one floor above Watari's dwelling, a five-star abode that Amelia was not sure to smile about or not. Nevertheless, she had thanked him religiously and made a mental note to repay him somehow, whenever she would be able to find both the money and time…

Time. She would have plenty of that now.

_No…you need to stay busy, keep your mind off of things…and I'm sure Watari will keep me informed on anything happening in the case unless L told him not to…but why wouldn't he want him to…? This is my case, too…_

She nearly laughed at her own arrogance. Her case. This was no one's case; it was a case based off of whoever was willing to put their lives on the chopping block and call the constant threat of death motivation. She had been one of those people. Perhaps she still was.

_I'm not supposed to miss you this much…_

The cab reached the back entrance of the hotel, complete with marble pillars and finely sculpted arches that would grace the presence of princesses. As Amelia exited the cab, she almost felt stupid walking up to a building of such beauty with an exterior such as hers: paled, frizzy, and clad in a tattered itinerant's garb. A far cry from polished and elegant.

_But you are indeed beautiful, Amelia…_

She swallowed the memory of L's words, the feel of his hands cupping her face so gently, and gripped the strap of her duffel bag until her knuckles ached. Watari strode beside her, causing her to slow down. "Ms. Amelia," he said quietly.

She did not look up at him and turned her attention to her rugged shoes. "Yes?"

A warm, fatherly hand was placed on her shoulder, causing her to turn her head and face him. The elderly man gave her a hospitable smile, one that brought the tears to Amelia's eyes once more. "I'm sorry, I can't seem to stop doing this," she whispered in reference to her crying spell. She gave a harsh sniff and stared up at the powder grey sky, as if her eyes would suck the tears back in and swallow them forever.

"It is quite okay, Ms. Amelia," Watari said. "Might I take your bag?"

She almost laughed at the question. She felt no need to be tended to when she barely had anything to care for. A lonely, olive-green duffel bag and ripped sweatpants - it was all she was made up of. She shook her head. "I can handle it, honestly. Thank you, Watari."

Watari smiled again, nodded, and began leading her into the lobby of the beautifully embellished hotel. The feeling of being unworthy returned to her with fists raised when she noticed the others waiting by the admission desk and sitting in the chairs unabashedly, shamelessly _staring_ at her. Their dark eyes scanned over her wardrobe, her too-big T-shirt and unbuttoned wool cardigan that nearly reached her knees, her threadbare black sweatpants and dilapidated footwear; off-white Chuck Taylors, brought over from her first home in England. One observer's lips twisted in a scowl at the sight of her hair, which she was sure was a mess all of its own, and when the woman met Amelia's narrowed, sunken eyes, she _smiled. _

_Sneered_ would be a more appropriate term. Amelia bit her tongue and followed behind Watari at a more rushed pace, her hand that was not fiercely grasping her bag seizing her earlobe and twisting until it hurt.

* * *

An hour had passed since L had heard Amelia stomp out, and his coffee remained on the table. He knew very well that it was cold by then, the creamer left to float atop the surface and the sugar to settle at the bottom of the mug, but he reached for it and brought it to his lips.

He could not drink it. Biting upon his bottom lip, he leaned forward and placed it back on the mahogany table.

He had told Aizawa to shut up. It had been such a childish, ludicrous order that his eyes had snapped open and his leg twitched to kick himself, but it had wrapped up what he was asking out of the world for just _five minutes_ so that he could think of what he was to do with Amelia.

But, as Aizawa had conjectured, he had done nothing more than say that it was not his decision.

It had been Amelia's, and she had taken advantage of the freedom to walk out and leave him to sit in front of a chilled cup of coffee, his knees pressing into his ribs.

He knew well enough that Amelia Lasswell would never walk out on the case that he had been reluctant to put her on in the first place. But she had walked out on him, so it was all just the same at that moment.

_But if she is not here, and she will not give up on the case…then what is she going to do from here…?_

The voice of Matsuda interrupted his thoughts and he grimaced.

"Hey, um, Ryuzaki," the officer began sheepishly, "I was just wondering if you were, you know…if you were okay? Are you?"

For reasons unknown, L was angered by the question. Was he okay? Ridiculous, a _stupid_ question. He turned around in his chair a little too quickly and heard his stiff back make a sickening crack. "Why are you asking me this, Matsuda-san?" he asked. He was careless as to how sharp his words came out; his head was heavy and his eyelids were weighing themselves down and he was just so _tired_.

Matsuda shrugged, but did not walk away. "Well, I'd be upset if the girl I had feelings for left m-"

The flash of L's eyes must have stopped the man in mid-sentence, for he cleared his throat and looked down at the floor. His brown eyes, normally bright and smiling at inappropriate times, held a sadness that L was not sure how to react to. He chose to turn back around and block him out of his thoughts, staring back at Light Yagami laying in a black-clad heap on the stone floor of his cell.

"I was just wondering," Matsuda said a little too quietly for his nature. "I'm sorry."

L released a sigh, dragging it out and inhaling deeply. The smell of neglected coffee filled his nostrils and he expeled it with a huff. "As am I," he said slowly. "Forgive me for my outburst, Matsuda-san."

_You have to excuse Ryuzaki…_

His gaze sharpened on the image of Light on the screen, who had not moved in over an hour, very much like him.

* * *

Amelia dropped her duffel bag onto the silk-sheeted bed and realized that she both looked and felt incredibly out of place.

The sight of her sullied collection of belongings sitting against the luxury of silk (she could not recall touching silk in years…perhaps she never had) made her crinkle her nose in displeasure, but she kicked off her shoes and dealt with it.

This was not her room. She had no right to claim it or have any opinion of it, for the only reason she was there in the first place was because of an unhappy accident: L realizing that she was too much of a distraction to possibly go on.

The memory pained her, but she rubbed her tender eyes and cursed beneath her breath before sitting on the floor. If she was going to sit on anything, it was not going to be creamy white silk.

It had been proven to her that she was not even worth the respect of strangers in a lobby. Had it been a mere two days ago, or even three hours earlier, she would not have given them a second's thought.

She blamed the silken sheets. She would sleep on the floor that night.

* * *

"Ryuzaki, do you need another coffee?"

It was all Aizawa could do to ask; the man in question had not left his chair in over five hours, without one trip for a refusion of caffeine. When he earned no response, he took a few steps closer to the armchair the detective sat in.

"Ryuzaki. Coffee?"

He had no idea why he bothered. There had been no advancements in conversation between the task force and Ryuzaki ever since Lise had made her exit, and he could not care less whether or not the man was running low on energy or not; truth of the matter was that his sulking was annoying him, and he was going to put an end to it however he wished.

Coffee made _him_ feel better, he knew that for a fact.

Even so, Ryuzaki remained motionless and quiet.

"Ryuzaki. Do you want a _fucking _coffee?"

_Jesus Christ, can the man turn his ears off or something…? _

"You know, you'd think a family man wouldn't curse so much," Matsuda said cheerfully from the back of the room. He gave a bubbly chuckle. "You learn something new every day."

With a deadly glance from Aizawa, Matsuda straightened his posture and scurried out of the room. "Uh, think I need some coffee, too!" he said at a rapid speed before Aizawa bothered to respond.

He took the time to mentally count to ten and relax the tense muscles of his back. Once he was calm, he made his way to in front of the chair, only to find that Ryuzaki was sleeping.

It was a strange sight, to say the least, for he had been sure that the detective had trained himself to stay awake for twenty odd years. But there he was, his head bowed and pale forehead resting against the top of his knees, his arms left to rest awkwardly by his sides.

The great L, passed out and crumpled up like a paper ball, and the impatient Aizawa standing before him offering coffee. Something in the man told him that he should laugh, while the irate part of his person urged him to scream obscenities until the detective was ripped out of sleep.

Shaking his head to himself, he did neither and trekked off to make a cup of coffee for himself.

* * *

_Watch Light be confessing right at this very moment…this is the worst decision you've ever made in your fucking life…_

The view of the city beneath her suite was colorful, lit up with neon and flashing gold from electric signs, woman dressed in perfectly embroidered blouses and pricey black coats, men with carefully crafted suits stretching across their slender frames.

_No, Light wouldn't just suddenly confess if his motives for being confined are what I think they are…being that he will somehow prove himself to be innocent, be released, and return to his Kira routine…and the move was needed…right…?_

They were all so clean, the people strolling below the fire escape in which Amelia sat upon, her back leaning against the gunmetal railing. She allowed her head to rest against her propped-up fist, and with a tired sigh, she observed the city from afar whilst thinking of the dark-eyed man she had left just hours earlier.

_Knowing L, he wouldn't cry…I don't think I've ever even seen him cry…actually, no, he probably never has in his entire life…not that I would want him to or anything…but he's probably doing just fine, just fine without me anyway…all he needs is this case, none of these personal feelings to distract him…wonder how he even lasted that long with me bothering him…_

She bit upon her bottom lip harder at the latter thought. Had she been a bother for him? The times that they had spent (or she could call them _attempts_) giving in to their selfish cravings could have been replaced with effort allocated to solving the case. She knew that L was a man of drive, and that she was a stubborn woman with her head too deep into her own pre-eminence.

Somehow, they had clashed.

_You clash with everyone, get over it…_

She stood up clumsily and trudged over to the railing, leaning on it with her elbows. The cool air whipped through her hair and sent it scattering across her face, disabling her from seeing anything but red until she furiously pulled it back into her fist. "Fucking hair," she muttered through gritted teeth.

A glance back down at the thriving city, three stories above the ground, and something went cold in the pit of her stomach.

_If you love her, you would do something!_

She had been a mere five or six feet away from the door by that point, and had heard it clearly from Aizawa.

_…you would do something!_

If he loved her.

Amelia had stood completely still, her back pressed against the hallway wall after Aizawa's declaration, waiting for L to take his advice and barrel out of the room to retrieve her. After the two minute mark had passed, and after hearing no footsteps come for her, she had left with her head bowed low and the creeping thought that was threatening her with tears once more.

_If he loved you, he would have done something._

* * *

"Man," Matsuda mumbled, "it sure is quiet without Lise here."

The bite of cake that was meant to be sublime suddenly turned bitter in L's mouth, and he swallowed it quickly with a wince. The clock chimed the third day of Light and Soichiro's confinement; the third day that he had been without his sharp-tongued, blue-eyed adversary.

_She is most likely taking advantage of the circumstances and has slept for at least forty hours…that, or she has grown accustomed to a lack of sleep and is mentally smiting me for it…_

He pushed his plate of cake away and tugged at his bottom lip, vaguely hearing Matsuda continue in his monologue. _There is no doubt that Watari has taken her in…in that case, she would be quite easy to find if things grew out of control…although Watari would never allow any harm to reach her, and I highly doubt that she would stray too far from the case that she practically begged to be put on…then again-_

The voice of Light coming from the speakers of L's laptop tore him out of his thoughts. _"Ryuzaki, keep me updated here. Have any new criminals been killed?"_

With a sigh, L leaned forward and pressed the key to the intercom. "No, Light-kun, they haven't."

Light's eyes widened, his mouth gaping. _"Have any been shown on the news, any at all?"_

"Yes, and no deaths have been recorded. We would have been notified of any deaths, and seeing as we haven't been-"

_"Are you absolutely sure? But…a-are you hiding any facts from me, Ryuzaki?" _

L dug his toes into the cushion of his chair in agitation. "I would have no reason to hide anything from you Light-kun, considering that being placed in confinement was your own idea. But yes, I am _absolutely_ certain that no new deaths have occurred since."

He heard Light sigh as he bowed his head, pixelated hair curtaining over his face. _"So does this confirm it…? That I am Kira…?"_

L hesitated before responding. "Please keep in mind that this only the third day of your confinement, Light-kun. Coincidences do happen."

Light nodded slowly. _"Yeah, alright…"_

_By requesting confinement under the self-suspicion of being Kira, and now asking whether or not criminals have been killed in the past three days, he's firmly standing by the idea that Kira can kill without being aware of it…although if Light truly is Kira, it is all just an act to throw us off…but what could he possibly gain from putting himself in a situation which further backs up that he is Kira…?_

A quick blip of a vibration in his pocket told L that he had received a message through his phone. Almost feverishly, he fished it out and opened it. Watari.

_She is safe. _

* * *

The fire escape was Amelia's newfound square of solace.

It was the early morning of her fourth day without L, and something was itching inside of her that could only be soothed with sitting against the railing and breathing in the life of Japan. She knew that it would do her no good in about an hour after she would return indoors, where she would skim through the books that Watari bought for her and aimlessly daydream, but she paid no mind to that nagging force and simply sat there.

Her brain ached from thinking so much those past few days. She had lost four pounds from either stress or her recent lack of interest in eating, she could not choose which; she was paler than her skin's customary magnolia. She thought herself to sleep, but never cried while she was inside.

Perhaps that was why she embraced the existence of this fire escape so dearly; it was the only place where she could bring herself to _cry._

The cold railing against her back was not his arms. The gleaming black that the balustrade was sheened in was not the soft screen of his hair. But the tears that only seemed to come when she was met with cool air and a heavy banister were all his.

She cradled her head in her arms and let her hair become her shield from the world. She hated irony, how the only place that she could find release was three floors above the city's eyes, exposed to anyone who dared to look up.

* * *

_I miss her._

It was a nauseating, chilling sensation rising in L's chest until he had to gulp another mouthful of tea down in order to breathe. He had not seen her, heard from her, touched her, kissed her in four days, and his mental capacity was suffering a sickening deal.

_Had she been my inspiration?_ he thought as he toyed with a pile of sugar cubes, trying to keep his hands occupied._ I had been alone for years working on cases and it never effected my performance, and now that she's left…_

He could only imagine the thoughts that would be coursing through the girl's mind at that moment.

_If you love her, you would have done something…she is probably clinging onto that, for I am quite positive she would have heard it…but if she knew that I did not want her to leave, would it change anything…?_

Matsuda and Aizawa had teamed up in a debate over something or other, and L closed his eyes to push them out of his thoughts. He was once better at this, but he could not help but pick out bits and phrases of their conversation, meddling with his own inner storm of contradictions.

_I knew I should have held back with her more…none of this would have happened if I had not let her pull me under, or if I had not allowed myself to slip even the slightest inch with her…and now she is out of the case, just like we started…_

Something was eating away at his heart, his muscle, his tissue, his mind. He was shivering, he knew that, and the sensation of breathing was becoming more and more forced.

L did not know how to cry, nor would he let his own urges teach him how to. His body seemed to listen, and he felt his pulse die down to normal once more. The singular, dangerous thought, however, refused to leave him, and continued gnawing away at what was left of his sanity.

_I miss Amelia._

* * *

**So, yeah, it wasn't the most eventful chapter, but I wanted to give some insight on how everyone's taking Amelia's departure…and believe me, it's only going to advance from there quite quickly…**

**Let me know what you think, loves! Expect another quick chapter from me soon, my motivation has returned with fists raised!**


	25. Corduroy

**This chapter took an immense amount of planning and whatnots…so much planning and whatnots that my brain is in a fizzle.**

**Anyway…a highly important OC has been introduced as of now! She will play a OMFG HUGE role in Through Glass, so pay close attention to her…**

**Don't worry, she won't get in the way of L and Amelia love times, I pwomise.**

* * *

Amelia awoke, on the floor by the bed, to a tightly-bound swell of yen, stacked neatly into a column and tied with fraying brown rope.

It sat on the floor, a foot away from her sleep-swollen face, sending her an unexpected good morning, and she slowly rose up from her makeshift bed of two blankets (she had only had one when she fell asleep that previous night; Watari must have draped another one over her while she was out) and a single pillow. Cautiously, as if it would bite her, she picked up the wad of money and gaped at its value.

_Watari…?_

A burst of energy ruptured within her and she bounded up and out of the room, tripping over her own feet once or twice but paying it no mind. The respected elder stood in the kitchen, preparing something over the stove that smelled warm and like home. A smile and a nod came her way, but Amelia was too baffled to return the favor. "Ah, good morning, Ms. Amelia!" he greeted. "I see you've found my gift?"

Amelia turned her eyes onto the absurd amount of money currently resting in her palm, unsure as to whether or not it was real. "_Gift_ is an understatement, Watari…" Her voice trailed off as she switched the wad to her other palm, testing its weight, stroking its papery surface with the skepticism that she had been born with. "H-how much is all of this?"

Watari flipped whatever he was cooking on the stove and smiled. "In English currency standards, which I'm sure you are much more familiar with, you have approximately…one thousand pounds, I believe."

Amelia felt a jolt rise in her throat at the sound of it: _one thousand pounds. _"A-and in Japanese terms, do you know?"

Watari shot her an amused glance at her shocked reaction. "Around 137,000 yen, as an estimate."

She did not know what to do with it, just sitting there in her hand. Her fingers curled around it carefully, as if holding glass. "But…but why? You didn't…really, you didn't have to at all, Watari. I mean, I've done just fine without any money, a-and I don't really know where I could put it or what to spend it on, probably because I've never had any, but…"

She expected to be cut off, but when she looked up at the white-haired man, she saw that he was simply listening to her, his eyes warm and domestic upon her behind his glasses. "It truly is no dilemma, Ms. Amelia. I figured that you may be in need of some money while you are on your leave, so I decided that now would be the best time to provide you with such." He flipped over what appeared to be an omelette and pressed it into the pan with his spatula, earning an gratifying sizzle. "And please, do not burden yourself with paying me back," he added with a chuckle.

"But it would only be the proper thing to do, seeing as I already ask enough out of you…"

"I beg to differ," Watari said. "It is hardly a quandary after caring for L for so many years."

The cold spell struck her heart once more, and her grip on the money tightened, her eyes casting downward to the floor. "Yes," she said in an attempt to fill the space that suddenly grew between her mouth and her mind. "Yes, h-hardly."

The omelette complete, Watari lay it onto a plate and set it on the counter. He approached her, his hands clasped together. "Ms. Amelia," he said gently, "I have been in contact with L this past week."

Amelia shot her head up to look back at him, too quickly to be imperceptible of her curiosity in which was suddenly ignited. "You have?"

_Has he asked about me…? Is he worried…? Is he sorry…? _None of the blistering questions left her lips, however, and she tried in vain to ease her pounding pulse through deep breaths. Staggered, choppy air was all she succeeded in receiving through the attempt.

"Light Yagami is still in confinement, but has experienced a rapid change in behavior," Watari stated slowly.

While she was disappointed at having her inner questions ignored, she immediately switched to alert. "What kind of change?" she asked, her fist trembling around the collection of money.

"It has only been recorded as of today." Watari's eyes twinkled and he gave her a single nod. "And I think it would be best if you were to see it for yourself."

The nervous surge returned to Amelia's throat and she swallowed hard. "I can't go back," she said quietly, "not now. L would know that you've told me this and…"

"I can't think of a better reason for him to tell me, Ms. Amelia." Watari picked up a steaming cup of tea that sat on the counter and held it out to her. "I believe he told me in confidence that it would get back to you."

Amelia shakily accepted the tea with her free hand, her mouth agape. _A sure sign that he wants you back there…no, don't get your hopes up! You saw what happens when you do that…no, don't think about that either! This is new information! And…and you have money…and Light's behavior has changed…which means that-_

Before she could stop herself, she reached out and hugged the poor man for the first time in years.

After a week of scrounging, she had a plan.

* * *

_What…is this…?_

_"Ryuzaki…please, you have to believe me! I'm not Kira, I'm NOT!"_

Believe him? Had L not been so thrown at Light's drastic amendment in conduct, he could have laughed.

He had never liked surprises.

_"Come on, you have to let me out of here! We're wasting time!"_

L leaned in and pressed the key to the intercom, his blood beginning to boil with confusion. "I'm unable to do that, Light-kun."

Light visibly stiffened. _"What do you mean you're unable to? You could let me out of here any second, nothing's stopping you!"_

"On the contrary, Light-kun, there is," he said sharply. "You said it yourself that you wished to be confined under the suspicions that you were Kira without being aware of it. I can't very well release you without proper evidence of your innocence, which we don't ha-"

_"But we already learned that Kira could control his victims! Have you ever thought that I was being controlled, set up?! I have to get out of here!"_

"In which case, you would be dead by now, Light-kun. And seeing as your confinement has been kept a secret from anyone outside the task force, I don't see how it would be possible for Kira to pick you out and use you to his advantage, so please drop that notion immediately."

Perhaps he was being cold, but the situation that surrounded L was constricting the air that could reach the semi-sensitive area of his brain, further fueling the frustration that had exponentially grown over the past week. He tugged at his bottom lip roughly and waited for a frantic response from Light.

_"It's easy for you to say that when you're not suspected of being Kira! I…I don't know what made me think that I should be confined, but I think that someone must have set me up so that they would be covered! Please, Ryuzaki, don't just-"_

"Light-kun, do remember that you were a suspect long before you came in with your request of being confined," L interrupted, his toes gripping around the edge of his chair. "This is not a recent event, and this sudden outburst is doing nothing for the suspicions upon you."

Light bowed his head and rested his forehead on his knees, whereas L watched him with narrowed eyes. _"I just don't understand…dammit, why is this happening?!"_

_You know that much better than I do, Light Yagami…_

* * *

The shopping district downtown from Amelia's hotel proved to be a test of her wits, patience, and logic, all in which were buzzing with a newfound energy.

She was no longer drowsy as she scurried through the craftily animated streets with flashes of adverts in painted Japanese, plastered on the glass of windows and slapped on fluttering banners that hung from the crowns of narrow buildings. Her mangy duffel bag against her side with her money secure in a makeshift wallet (a plastic bag, which was all she could find), she weaved in and out of finely dressed passers-by and couples like an anxious bee prepared to be swat at.

Her mind was racing. She was breathing, and although shallow, oxygen was still filling her lungs and keeping her mobile. And as long as she was breathing, she could take whatever was coming.

_It would be better with him here…_

She winced at the thought and gripped the strap of her bag tighter. _Stop it._

The sign for the electronics store came into view just down the street from where she weaved in and out of chattering clans of folk, and Amelia made sure to keep her eyes straight ahead at that gleaming sign as a reminder of why she was here, scuttling like a street mite, flicking her windblown, unwashed fringe out of her eyes.

She needed a shower. She needed reassurance. But since neither could be gained at that exact moment, she merely bit her tongue and walked faster towards the store.

The damp city was blocked out behind her when she strode through the automatic doors, clutching her flimsy coat around herself tightly. As Amelia stared up at the racks of pricey electronics, dazzling pieces of technology that she would never dream of making use out of, her fish-in-the-fishbowl complex returned with enthusiasm.

_Well, don't you look like a right old twit in here…god dammit, how am I supposed to know how much I should spend anyway? God, why didn't you ask Watari how much the average video camera costs before you decided to just get on up and trek out here…? Dumbass…no, twit…that's what you are, a right old tw-_

A tap on her shoulder and she was torn from her thoughts. Amelia whirled around to face the tapper, and met the eyes of a short Japanese woman with wild, eager eyes. When she began spinning off phrases faster than Amelia could hear, she was left to ogle wide-eyed at her and mentally strangle herself once more for being inept in the complicated language she so struggled with.

_Fuck._

She wearily muttered that she was not skilled in the language to the bright young helper, but earned a strange and off-putting stare before the woman began speaking again, clearly trying to talk her into purchasing something. Amelia gripped her duffel bag strap desperately and backed away, not catching onto the quickly connected words the woman spoke to her, and felt the humiliation of being an outsider sinking in once more.

_Remember when you wanted to live here…?_

"Hey, you speak English?"

A different voice, one that possessed an accent Amelia could decipher in a milisecond (Scottish, stronger than her own, distinct and thick), came from beside her. A turn of her head and a stranger was before her; a young woman, smiling lethargically and fiddling with a pendant on her necklace.

She was…pretty? Amelia was unsure of how to take in her appearance, in which was an enigma of its own genre. Dark choppy hair reached the woman's chin in a disheveled bob, her equally dark eyes half mast with thick, erratic bangs. Perhaps appearing even more out of place than Amelia was this woman, who did not look a day over twenty, at the most, and she pondered on whether or not she should feel grateful or not.

She decided that she was when she referred to the stranger's question and released a pent up breath. "Yes," she replied, "and by the sound of it, you do as well."

The woman smiled again, hooking her pale thumbs into the beltloops of her faded jeans. "Seems to be the case," she said with a small laugh. "Can't say I've come across any other Scot around here, though." She looked around the store idly, swiping a chunk of her fringe out of her eyes. It only managed to fall back down in her line of vision, however, shielding off her eyes again. A quick flash of deep russet irises and long eyelashes were all Amelia caught before the curtain closed over them.

"Don't feel bad about the Japanese," the woman said, lowering her voice, "yours is a hell of a lot better than mine." She pulled out a carton of cigarettes from her pocket and pulled a single one out, holding it gracefully between her fingers. "Smoke?"

It took a moment for Amelia to catch on, having been too occupied with studying the woman's mannerisms. After a silent second, she shook her head awkwardly and released a chuckle. "No, I'm, uh…I'm not really into that."

The woman nodded, returning the carton back into her pocket. "I probably shouldn't be, either," she said tiredly, "but, eh, what the hell. Can I light up in here? Does Japan have laws on that?"

_How long has she been in Japan…?_

Amelia cleared her throat, nervous for an unknown reason. She had not been reminded of her ineptitude in social situations for quite some time, and it had hit her with double the force after so long of being within the task force walls.

_The task force…what would L be doing right now…?_

"Suppose I won't risk it," the woman said with a shrug, dragging Amelia out of her mental distancing again. "Anyway, got a name? Most of us do." She twirled the unlit cigarette between her fingers, cocking her head at her slightly.

"Lise," she said quickly, before the reminder of not using her real name would fail her. _Don't give a last name, even your alias…nice move, self._

The woman smiled, placed the fresh cigarette in the corner of her mouth and reached out her right hand to take Amelia's in a sudden handshake. Her lips curled upwards into a joker's grin as she flicked her fringe out of her eyes. Another russet flash. "That's nice, real nice. You're part of the majority now."

Amelia widened her eyes at the cryptic statement, taken back by the response from the dark-haired woman. "What?" she asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

The woman merely laughed good-naturedly and retreived her lighter from her pocket, turning away from Amelia and making her way for the sliding doors. "Nice meeting you, too," she said as she made her smooth exit, waggling her fingers behind her haphazardly.

Amelia was only left to stare behind the corduroy jacket clad outsider as she lit her cigarette beyond the glass windows, looked up to the sky dreamily and strolled away into the active streets of Japan. Once the choppy-haired girl was swallowed into the city, out of sight, she made a timid 180 on her heel and returned to her cloudy-minded search for a video camera.

_And to think that you were socially inept…_

* * *

Most unexpectedly, L found that he was suddenly repulsed by coffee.

He could not recall having a stomach ache since the early stages of childhood, which was why a short bout of disturbance struck a chord within him when his stomach lurched at the sight of a steaming refill, courtesy of Matsuda.

He had not turned down a cup of coffee in years.

With a pale thumb against his lips, he succumbed to his thoughts. _I trust that Watari told her of Light's behavior alteration…a piece of information that I doubt she will be able to resist…but what steps will she take to see it for herself? No doubt she will be interested…then again, she is far too stubborn to return on such grounds before making a solid advancement in the case…that only referring to if she would be willing to share it…_

Light Yagami stirred in his sleep on the screen's image, letting out a muffled whimper before settling once more.

_Could it be possible that she will not return if she makes an advancement…? Besides that, has she made any attempt to get closer to headquarters in order to learn more of Light's change…? Or has Amelia completely walked out on the case…?_

He kept his mind off of the possibility that she had completely walked out on _him_ in particular. It would not do to become emotional, seeing as he only vaguely accepted the notion of having the grounds to be such a thing.

_Because she showed me how to._

The sugared, nauseating thought was enough for L to gag on air. No, this would certainly not do; sentimentality for a woman that had bolted up the door he thought to have nudged open just enough to see what lay behind it. It was minute, unexplored, disgustingly intriguing, but he had been invited to open it and that was all that mattered.

The sugar-scooped coffee remained untouched. Perhaps he was not as certain of things as he thought he was.

* * *

The camera that Amelia purchased was of the cheapest variety she could pin yen upon, and resided securely in her hands as she made her way back to the hotel. The memory of the brown-eyed stranger rang in her ears: obnoxious Scottish dialect far more advanced than Amelia's had ever been, slothful smile and grungy corduroy jacket. All of this without the token of a name.

_Who the hell was that joke…? Making a fool out of herself, acting as if she were some twitty magician…_

Amelia waited for the pedestrian traffic sign to give an agreeable blink before stalking off, wedged between a squabbling couple by the shoulders. She squeezed her way out, her head bowed, and made her way to a comfortable free space in the energetic crowd.

_And she didn't even bother giving a name…telling me I'm part of some majority, what happy horse shit…what majority? People who have names…? What a backwards person…probably goes by a sound effect instead of a reasonable name…humanity is so bizarre when it wants to be, meaning when I _don't_ want it to be…_

The hotel was within her sight by now, and she rushed to its wide double doors and scurried inside. She ignored the prodding stares from the lobby folk, choosing to keep her mind occupied on the plan at stake boiling in her brain. A swipe of her key card later, she stumbled into the suite and closed the door quickly behind her.

"Ah, you've returned in one piece," Watari said as he emerged from the kitchen. "The streets of Japan have a dizzying quality about them, don't they?"

Amelia dropped her duffel bag onto the couch and collapsed onto it with a groan. "I still haven't grown accustomed to them," she said tiredly. She turned her eyes onto the eldery man. "I can feel my mental capacity shrinking, Watari."

The man smiled and retreived a bowl of what appeared to be vegetable soup and handed it to Amelia carefully, a spoon resting in its contents. "That would be quite unfortunate, but keep in mind that you haven't had a proper sleeping schedule in at least a month."

Amelia accepted the soup warily. "Due to serial killers with god complexes and droll detectives."

She barely caught onto her own statement until seconds later when a chilled stitch cramped in her chest. _Droll detectives with grey eyes and cautious hands…_

Her stomach gave a revolting spin. The soup in her hands suddenly resembled all the ghastly things in the world and she set it on the table before she would drop it and make a fool out of herself in front of the man she respected. "Like I said, mental capacity shrinkage," she muttered with a sheepish smile.

"I believe you are a touch above stressed, Ms. Amelia."

Stressed? The possibility of being overly stressed had been almost entirely definite since Amelia's childhood years. Admitting that she had too much on her plate now would be a hollow statement of her to say, so she pursed her lips and reached out for the soup. Hungry, sapped, yet still burning off the plan in her head, she closed her eyes for a moment before taking a welcoming mouthful.

"Did your outing go as planned?" The sound of teacups clinking came from the kitchen in which Watari had vanished into again.

Amelia swallowed quickly and groaned at the memory of the peculiar stranger. "I was successfully reminded of how incredulously _outlandish _the world can be."

"Oh?"

She took another mouthful of soup and swallowed slowly, savoring the taste of something besides coffee. "Strangers frighten me."

Watari laughed from the kitchen. "Then you have not changed too much, Ms. Amelia. What happened?"

Amelia stared into the bowl of soup, the image of the strange woman's laughing eyes returning to her head, her dotty disposition hatching in her brain. "Just your average ninny out to confuse people, of course. She spoke of ridiculous majorities and how having a name made you part of one and…oh, she was a fool, that's all."

"You did not give her your name, correct?"

Amelia smiled and twirled her spoon within her soup. "Course not. Lise was all I told her, but she fled the scene soon after. Simpleton…and she was from Scotland, as well. How dotty…but I didn't give any information out to her, she was as strange as I ever did meet..."

When she saw Watari stop in midstep of returning from the kitchen, she furrowed her brow in concern. "Watari?"

The man gave her a look that she could not decipher, a mashup between curiosity and distress. He approached the coffee table and placed the teacup he had been holding onto the rosewood surface. "What did she look like, Ms. Amelia? Do you recall her well enough?"

Amelia set her soup onto the table as well, alarmed at the man's questioning. "Short hair, dark and with a dreadful haircut, almond eyes, tall…why do you ask? Is something wr-"

"Did she give you a name, Ms. Amelia?" he interrupted with urgency, leaning in to her.

"N-no," Amelia said, shaking her head. "No, she didn't…Watari? "

The man had stood up quickly and started for the bedroom door, reaching into his pocket for his cellular phone. "Please, Ms. Amelia, I will explain later," he said with a quick nod. "Now, rest while you can."

He retreated behind the bedroom door, closing it on his way out of the living room. Amelia, rooted to the seat of the couch, felt a discomforting shiver rise up her spine and descend slowly at the singular thought: _What's going on?_

The clock struck four in the afternoon, marking only three more hours before she would venture back out the city. The dreary afternoon bled through the drapes of the wide windows, clouding over her mind with grey and weighing her down with its credence.

Realizing that there was nothing left to distract her with (her train of thought had a maddening way of floating back to his eyes, his touch, the inky black of his hair), she gave a burdening sigh and lay down on the couch in hopes of catching the hand of sleep.

* * *

"I sure do miss Lise," Matsuda sighed out, dropping his weight onto the couch of the surveillance room. "It seems so dead in here without her."

Aizawa rolled his eyes at the statement, his back to Matsuda as he stared bitterly out the window. It had not been the first time over the duration of the week that the young man had complained of the girl's absence, and although a fragment of himself agreed with him, the sound of sighs and negativity was grating at his patience roughly. "Don't you mean without her constant rebuttals to everything we had to say?" he grumbled. He crossed his arms and leaned against the window with one shoulder. He could not remember taking a leisurely walk through the streets below in at least a month…he pretended not to notice and distracted his mind with other thoughts.

Matsuda, of course, intervened.

"No, not really. I thought it was kind of entertaining, you know? The way she could think of something smart to say right off the bat. Boy, would I hate to get in a fight with her…"

Aizawa stole a glance in L's direction and saw that he was completely still in his chair, staring straight ahead with eyes devoid of sentiment. His lips, however, were tight, pursed, and it was all the confirmation Aizawa needed to know that he was listening.

_I knew he should have stopped her…he wouldn't be sitting there alone if he hadn't just let her walk out like an idiot…dammit, this is turning into some high school drama shit, I just know it…and they think they're so smart about the world, don't they? _

As Matsuda babbled on, Aizawa clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in agitation. _God, this gets so old once you're out of high school…_

* * *

_Oh, fuck it, I'm out of here._

Just as Amelia had expected, sleep rejected her with a cackling wing when she had needed it the most. After throwing on her jacket for the second time and securing her camera into her pocket, she took flight down the stairs to the hotel lobby and out the glass double doors. She had no destination, nowhere to be until seven o'clock greeted her watch, so she meandered through the streets like before until she unexpectedly landed at the electronics store from earlier.

_What the…?_

She had had no intention of arriving at the same shop. In fact, she could not remember even having the idea of walking to it in her head before she looked up at the familiar sign and gaped, thrown at her own inquiry.

Suddenly, it was clear to her. _You wanted to see if she would be here._

Watari's questioning had alarmed her to the point in which her subconscious guided her to their meeting place. The sheer nonsensicality of the event led her to pinch the bridge of her nose and squeeze her eyes shut, trying to count to ten before taking a few more steps away from the shop door. Making a right turn into the alleyway that would lead to the other side of the shopping district, she strode quickly until hearing an all-too familiar voice.

"Fancy seeing you again, friend!"

Amelia froze and looked up to find the woman, leaning against the brick wall, grinning at her.

The ire did not take a mere two seconds to take hold of her. "Who the hell are you?" she snapped. No doubt she would not be taken seriously by the enigma in the corduroy jacket, but the frustration mounting in her chest fueled the clench. She took a breath to steady herself. "All this mysterious stranger shit is supremely pissing me off, I'll have you know."

The choppy-haired woman exhaled, chuckling through the expeled smoke of her cigarette. "You know what? I like you. You're damn interesting, you really are."

When Amelia tugged at her earlobe angrily, the woman gave a flighty little whistle through her teeth. "Ten seconds after seeing me and you're already seething. Damn."

"Are you following me?"

The woman's brown eyes widened briefly before she let out a huff of a laugh. "I didn't know you were that full of yourself to think that."

"You don't know me," Amelia defended with a glare, "so you have nothing to support that."

"Just assuming that I'm following you…what a world." The stranger tilted her head up to gaze at

the sky, eyes squinted. "And you're right, I don't know you, so I would have no reason to loom around following you like a creep."

Amelia released an exasperated breath. "Then why won't you tell me who you are? Any innocent person would have no problem with that."

The woman lowered her head and looked back at her as if she were a world class fool. "You didn't ask, of course. I mean, yeh, you asked a few minutes ago, but…" She shrugged her narrow shoulders, flicking her cigarette's ashes into the air. "I'm referring to earlier today when you failed miserably at asking what my name is."

"Well, the normal reaction to someone who gives you their name after being asked is to return the favor," Amelia retorted through her teeth. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest and briefly scanned her surroundings for a quick escape if needed. "Not just…just get a name out of someone and preach about them being part of some rubbish ass 'majority.'"

The woman raised her hidden eyebrows and took a short drag from her smoke, the corners of her lips smiling around it. "You sure are sensitive about names, aren't you?"

"Coming from someone who completely wheels around having to give theirs."

Instead of a scoff, Amelia earned a snide curl of a grin. "I am quite the swell wheel-arounder."

"That's very backwards logic," Amelia said sharply. She took a step back, ready and willing to make a run for it. Why she had not done so already, she ignored. "Now, back to you following me."

The woman chuckled again. A cool gust of wind swept between them in which sent the woman's bangs to blow out of her almond eyes, but she raised hr hand to ruffle her hair so that it hung low over the deep brown irises again. "Following you," she laughed out. "Poor thing thinks I'm following her…"

"How do you explain this, then?" Amelia threw her hands up, gesturing to the alleyway around them. "Seeing you again within the same day in one of the most populated areas in the world while entirely evading an identity. And don't call me 'poor thing.'"

The grinning riddle of a human disposed of her shrunken cigarette, crushing it beneath her sneaker. "Let's go for a walk."

"Let's not."

She sighed, looking at Amelia with a droll boredom. "So you would prefer to stand in an alley with the person that you are convinced is stalking you?" Another dry huff of a laugh. "Christ, you act as if you _want_ me to follow you."

Amelia put her back against the brick wall, not letting her eyes leave the stranger. "There is nothing I want less, I assure you."

The woman clapped her hands together once with finality, her eyes brightening to a comical degree. "Then off we go!"

As she began strolling away, Amelia could not have been less amused. "What are you-"

"Come along, not, it won't do to have someone following _you_!" She gave a large wave of her arm to encourage Amelia to catch up with her, but she remained rooted to the ground. The dark-haired woman remained walking, whistling chirpily into the air.

Amelia's eyes widened at the bizarre episode. "If you think I'm going to follow you-"

"Oh, so now you know what it's like?"

A low chuckle was heard as Amelia stood in the alley, mouth agape in outrage. While she was wordless, the shaggy stranger peeked back over her shoulder at her. "Hey, want to know a secret?"

"You're an absolute twit," Amelia stated, disregaring the question with a grimace.

The woman appeared genuinely confused by the shot made at her and shook her head. "No, I'm an absolute Russe Raleigh-Olten, that's what I am."

_Huh, so she does have a name…probably a fake, what with her dottiness…anyway, don't trust anything she says, it wouldn't be the best move…_

"Russe" took four more steps before curiosity gripped Amelia by the throat, forcing her to rush up to meet her side."Fine, but make it quick," she mumbled.

Russe was still staring up at the sky, a dreamy smile on her face. "Eh, there's no such thing as a quick walk in Japan, Lise."

Amelia shot her a look of disdain at the mocking manner her alias was spoken in. She doubted the woman was capable of uttering a single statement without sounding as if a grand ruse was behind it. Before she could respond, Russe beat her to it. "Oh, and by the way, that's not your real name."

Amelia felt her stomach drop to her toes and raise back up to rest in her throat. _Don't show a reaction, _she mentally chided. She huffed out a chuckle, looking directly at her soft profile. "You're arrogant as shit."

"Of course I am," Russe said, tossing her head back and laughing into the air. "Anyway, _Lise_. I don't like that. It's not you, you know? Doesn't fit you. Therefore, it's not your name, I've decided it. Nope, not at all, not your name." She shook her head quickly, her riotous hair flapping over her face wildly.

Amelia felt the welcoming tide of relief to cool over her nerves. _Ok, so she doesn't know…she's just saying it because it doesn't "look" like me…eh, could be worse. _"Well, sorry my names offends you." She went back to staring ahead of her, out into the city as they exited the alley and roamed the sidewalk.

"It's not your name that offends me, it's that awful jacket of yours." Russe reached out and pinched the shoulder of Amelia's jacket, making a sound that greatly resembled vomiting in her throat. "It's tacky and awful."

When Amelia shot her gaze onto her again, she saw that Russe was smiling innocently at her as if no insult was given. She clenched her fists and walked a degree quicker, only to see her catch up to her within two steps with her abnormally long legs. Amelia groaned. "And you're a louse of the lowest order."

Russe appeared not to have taken the words to heart, since she remained smiling as she tilted her head up to the sky. "That's fun," she said. "Anyway, what do you want to talk about, mate who goes by the shit name of _Lise_?"

Amelia scrunched up her nose in distaste and quickened her pace again. "Why you're here again," she ordered. "Don't you have anything better to do than hang out in alleys and wait for strangers with ugly jackets?"

"Actually, no," Russe said, shaking her head.

"Then find something. The world is…_full_ of grand opportunities." Amelia slathered on the sarcasm with thematic swooping of her arms, making sure to make herself look as ridiculous as Russe had before.

Russe was merely staring at her now, a concerned look on her face. "The same applies to you, then."

"What? Don't tell me tha-"

"You came back to the store because you thought I would be there." Russe's face, in which seemed to be on the verge of beautiful and repulsive at the same time, was stone-serious, perhaps the coldest Amelia had seen from her thus far. "You were curious. You wanted to know who I was and thought you would find me in the same place as before. It's all very simple, really. You seem to be a pretty simple person. Simple, simple, simple, that's what you are in a nutshell, Lise. Am I right? Isn't that what you are?"

Amelia had stopped walking. Something in the pit of her stomach had begun to churn and rotate until she was floored, nauseous and confused. _What is this…? Is she really following me…? And I'm…simple…?_

"Lise?"

"What are you?" Amelia asked, her voice strained and hoarse.

Russe turned around and looked at her, the passers-by weaving around her smoothly. Amelia, on the other hand, was being shoved and tugged around, as if she were not visible to anyone but the dreamy-eyed girl just five feet away from her.

Amelia could not speak, only stare. Limbs heavy and languid, she made no attempt to flee even as Russe gave her a single nod and smile before turning and slinking away.

* * *

_Simple, simple, simple._

"Ms. Amelia."

_That's what you are, isn't it?_

"Ms. Amelia."

_What are you…?_

"Ms. Amelia!"

The world was swept in a black fog before Amelia was pulled beneath it.

* * *

The news did nothing for L's mood.

"She passed out?" he uttered gravely into his cell phone. At the words, Matsuda snapped his attention over to him, yelping in shock and leaping out of his chair. While he chirped panicked demands for answers that L did not have, L took the opportunity to trudge away from him and pull the phone away from his ear. "Aizawa," he ordered, "please keep watch on Light-kun and Misa-san."

Before the officer could object, L ventured into the bathroom and shut the door tightly behind him. "What exactly happened, Watari?"

A sigh was heard from the other line. _"Ms. Amelia had returned from an outing into town, clearly shaken, and would not respond to me when I addressed her numerous times. She-"_

"How long has she been out, Watari?" L asked, crouching against the wall of the bathroom. A full week since seeing Amelia, and the first portion of news handed to him about her was that she had lost consciousness. To say the least, he was unnerved. "Has she come to yet?"

_"She returned to consciousness about four minutes after falling, and I'm letting her sleep as of now."_

L fingered his bottom lip roughly, squeezing his eyes shut and blocking out the lit room. "Did she hit her head on the way down?" His voice was a dark monotone, one that he found had grown more routine to him over the past week.

_This is what happens when you care for her…_

_"No, I caught her before she hit the ground…what concerns me is why she passed out to begin with, Ryuzaki."_

L pulled at his lip until it stung before releasing it, his eyes still closed tightly. "Of course I'm concerned about that as well, Watari," he said sharply. "I'm confident that she didn't pass out because she thought it would be amusing."

_"I understand that, Ryuzaki, but I am wondering whether this seperation is helping her or harming her. She is progressively losing weight over a very short period of time, unable to sleep for more than two to three hours…passing out is a sure sign that things are going haywire, and I am not sure how much more of this I can tolerate before I-"_

"Watari, please don't speak of not being able to tolerate seeing her in turmoil when I am unable to be there at all," L said with a dangerous edge. His eyes had snapped open now, staring up at the ceiling and continuing to tug on his lip harshly.

There was a hesitation on the other line before Watari spoke, low and cautious. _"I truly hate to say this, Ryuzaki, but this would not have happened if-"_

"If I had not let her leave."

Silence fell over the bathroom, ringing through the speaker of L's phone and aching in his ears. _If I had not let her leave. If you had not let her leave. If Amelia had not left. _

"Watari, assume that I am aware of these things before stating them, it would save much time and displeasure." He spoke slowly, lethargically, his eyes slipping closed again. He had never been this _tired_ when Amelia had resided beneath the same roof as him…shaking off the thought, he struggled to keep his eyes wired. "Please inform me of when she wakes up, regardless of the time."

_"Yes, L."_

With a firm click, L closed his phone and shoved it into his pocket. His eyes wandered, with purpose, to where the girl had crumbled against the wall and denied his touch, whispering of her plan to walk out.

He was no longer cold. L cringed at the very idea of it, but it was directly in his face, boiling and wretchedly unavoidable.

He was in love.

He was _burning_, and there was nothing he could craft to do about it.

* * *

If Amelia had known that she would sleep until the next day, she would have swallowed her disturbance and dealt with it before waking up to blinding morning sun.

She sat up slowly, not paying the chaos that was her hair any attention, and saw that Watari sat in a plush chair by the bedside, absorbed in a book. "W…Watari? What happened…?" She greeted sitting upright with a pulsating sensation in the back of her head and immediately lay back down.

The white-haired man adjusted his reading glasses on the brim of his nose and closed his book. "Ah, I expected you to sleep as long as you did, Ms. Amelia. And it seems as though you passed out due to exhaustion, no surprise."

"Exhaustion?" Amelia asked weakly. _But my plan…will I be able to go tonight…? I have to see…_

Watari nodded and reached over to the nightstand to hand her a glass of water. "Yes, and I cannot say that I am all too surprised. It is best that you rest these next couple of days to-"

"Couple of days?" Amelia sat upright again and winced at the pain in her head, setting the newly received water onto the nightstand again. "But I can't do that, I have to go out to see-"

"Please, Ms. Amelia," Watari said softly. "I understand that this may interfere with what you had in mind, but your health is rapidly declining. I cannot allow you to overexert yourself to the point of another collapse. I fear I would not hear the end of it from L."

A cold rush deluged Amelia's alert state. "You spoke with him last night?"

Watari gave her a look of both sympathy and guilt, one that Amelia felt the need to glance away from. She picked up the glass of water and took a long sip as Watari spoke. "Yes, I promised to inform him if anything were to happen to you. I assumed that passing out was on that list."

Amelia gazed cynically out the window, sulking her shoulders and allowing her upper body to subside back onto the bed tiredly. "Yes, I suppose," she said, unsure of what else to say.

Watari sent her a knowing smile and stood up. "We will discuss this later, Ms. Amelia."

"Discuss what?"

Watari turned his head before exiting the bedroom, a thoughtful look on his face. "Oh, just…_this_," he said, gesturing to her with an awkward swoop of his hands. He gave her a genial bow and left her to lay in the bed, biting her bottom lip and fighting off the overwhelming urge to take a happy leap out the window.

_I can't just stay here…I've got to-_

_Simple, simple, simple._

_I need to see him…_

_Light…experienced a rapid change in behavior…_

_You're missing out…!_

_That's what you are, isn't it?_

_Simple…_

Thoughts failed her before sleep injected its toxin into her neck, lapping away at all hopes of acting upon all she had left.

* * *

**So…who the hell is Russe, right? Don't worry, all will be explained in time…**

**And I'm telling you, guys, I can't wait for L and Amelia to reunite. ::cheeky grin:: I gotz it all planned out, and I'm growing impatient for some love times just as much as you all are!**

**And you will find out what Amelia's plan with video camera was in the next chapter, I assure you!**

**Feedback equals love.**


	26. Scraps of Lise

**Another fairly quick update! Kudos for phollie-san!**

**So this chapter is pretty…um, weighty…I actually got quite moody writing it, but much is explained here in regards to Russe. Sort of. **

**And we **_**finally**_** get to the part with Light that I've been planning for ages. ::sweatdrop::**

**(Oh, and there is a mega-lime in the very beginning. Damn dreams, right?)**

**So, as usual, please enjoy, my lovely readers!**

* * *

_How it started, where it led to, how it ended; they were all details, details Amelia could not care less about._

_He was _here,_ after so long of being _there_, and she was where he was, mingled into one gasping collection of shifting skin and breathy whispers. They were the physical entity of lust, but with deeper undertones that shivered through their nerves with each touch, sending another boiling surge to erupt beneath the sheets._

_They had not even joined yet. The kiss was broken when L pulled away, staring down at her bare form with bright, glazed eyes. He whispered her name, breathing heavily, and she responded with an arch of her back, pressing her naked hips into his. "L," she uttered. She was drowning in anticipation, wanting nothing more than to meet with him after so long of being denied the ultimate intimacy. _

_His fingers were gliding along her swollen lips, parting them and slipping in momentarily, and she whimpered when they descended to her heaving chest, along the tender peaks of her breasts and down her stomach. Amelia instinctively spread her legs, giving him access to her most sensitive, desperate region, and waited for him to satisfy the aching mounting in her stomach. "Do it," she whispered raggedly, closing her eyes and beginning to feel the impatience growing to an agonizing level. How long had it been since she had seen him, felt him, been entirely absorbed by him until all that remained was a singular burning need, pushing and breathing and…_

_Oh, feeling. Feeling those fingers press against her opening, pushing, gliding, driving deep into her and easing back out…she could not move, speak, breathe, and it took all she had not to sink away into the sheets and drown away into intoxication._

_He was kissing her collarbone, the slope of her neck, teasing her with his avoidance of her feverish mouth before cupping a heaving breast with his free hand. As he pushed his slender fingers deeper into her and curled gently, she let out a ragged breath at the spot he now stroked inside of her. "A-ah…please, just…" She was skipping over words, her mind was so fizzy, and she spoke through arching her back and feeling her chest press into his. "Please…"_

_Dark hair grazed against her neck when he sweeped his head upwards to whisper into her ear, a single maddening word that nearly sent her flailing over the edge._

_"Patience…"_

* * *

She could kick herself, grip the headboard and give it a vigorous shake, glower at her own reflection all she wanted, but the dreams were becoming more than a nuisance.

Amelia propped herself up in bed on her knees and leaned her forehead against the wooden panel. While she could say that she dearly wished to return to the dream to greet its ending result, she bit upon her bottom lip and gave the headboard a glare fit for an enemy.

She had grown to _despise_ sleeping, almost as much as she _despised_ missing him.

Giving up on the front of forgetting about her dream, she groaned and slowly got out of bed. Her muscles gave a disheartening inward scream at how long she had been asleep, but she ambled her way into the bathroom in hopes of showering off her own heat.

She failed. No matter how cold she twisted the shower knob to be, the fraught blaze burned on.

* * *

"Light-kun."

L watched through wired eyes as the boy in question weakly raised his head in his cell, his eyes still on the cement floor. _"…yes, Ryuzaki,"_ he asked, his voice hoarse and tired.

L released a sigh and twirled his spoon idly in his bowl of ice cream. "This would go much smoother if you were to simply admit to being Kira. I'm sure it would be much more enjoyable than slumping in a jail cell for days on end, wouldn't it?" He dipped the spoon into a mound of the ice cream and guided it to his mouth lazily.

Light raised his eyes then, looking directly into the camera with an anger that L had seen countless times from him during his confinement. _"I'm not going to admit to being someone I'm not, Ryuzaki," _he stated. _"There's no reason why I would-"_

"Well, to be frank, it doesn't exactly look good on the 'innocence' front that no criminals have been killed since you were confined," L added. "If you have means of explaining that, do fill us in, Light-kun."

Matsuda cleared his throat awkwardly behind the armchair. "Uh, that was a little harsh, don't you think, Ryuzaki?" he said with a nervous chuckle.

When L froze before spooning another mouthful of ice cream to concentrate on, he heard Matsuda clear his throat again and take a few steps back. "Harsh applies to Kira's punishment on criminals, Matsuda," L said quietly, "not a task force's questioning of a potential mass murderer whom is steadily receding from the grey region." He finally applied spoon to mouth and swallowed the ice cream a little too quickly, cringing when his brain cramped. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. "Now, please excuse me while I have a brainfreeze."

"But I-"

"Brainfreeze, Matsuda," L quipped.

"Uh, yeah, sorry…" The officer walked away to the other side of the room, leaving L to focus on driving away the pounding headache and hearing Light's rebuttal to his earlier words.

_"I can't explain it, Ryuzaki, but I'm not Kira! We're wasting time with me sitting in here away from the investigation!"_

His eyes still screwed shut, L pinched the bridge of his nose harder and released a steady sigh. "Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what you are concerned about, Light-kun," he said in a quiet monotone.

L could explain the sudden irritability in his mannerisms; he had fallen asleep at his chair just hours before. He could down gallons of tea, tug at his lip and question himself on Amelia's happenings all he wanted, but the dreams were becoming more than a nuisance.

* * *

_Three o'clock…four more hours left…now if I can just do this without passing out, I should be able to execute it…shit, with my luck, I'll fall apart on the street and be carried off to Peru or something outlandish…oh, stop it, you're being stupid. Just put on your fucking jacket and get out of here before Watari stops you…_

Amelia had put on the jacket that Russe had deemed as ugly for a purpose. As she slipped her arms into the shabby grey sleeves, she kept the image of the girl's cryptic jester's smile and prodding eyes rooted in her memory.

_She better be there, dammit…she better be there or else I'll search this whole damn world for her…_

She followed the same route on foot to where it led her the previous day, ignoring the occasional blurry spell in her sight or the rushing sound in her ears. Refusing to let her whittling energy hold her back from the answers her mind cried out for, she all but stomped in off timing with the crowd that surrounded her until she reached the store for the third time.

_Come on, Russe…_

Amelia took a steadying breath, her eyes fixed on the alleyway that resided by the shop. A cooling wind breathed through her hair, people shoved into her still stance, but she remained just seven feet away from the opening of the alley, squirming with trepidation.

Something in her told her that Russe would be there, waiting for her with a foolish smirk and mindless drabble ready to spin into her ears. Another part of her shrugged off the chances of the dark-haired woman to be in the same place at the same time as her, but it was overwhelmed with the former half of Amelia's mind.

She would take what slim shot she had as she marched forward into the alley. A flash of rusty corduroy told her that she had found her fool, and she jerked her head up quickly to take her head on.

Russe sat cross-legged against the brick wall, tapping her pale fingers against her knees with no set rhythm. Just as Amelia had expected, she was gazing up at the sky that stretched above their heads, a loopy sort of smile on her lips.

She was outraged.

"You are going to tell me who the _hell_ you are, or else I swear to you, I'll turn you in faster than you can imagine." Amelia swung her duffel bag around so that it rested against her back, prepared and willing to be forceful if the opportunity called. She was _furious_ without the woman having said a single word to her, but she expected a blissful river of broken sentences and blunt phrases to pave over that quite smoothly.

Russe glanced at her sideways before looking back up at the sky. She raised her arm and pointed directly above her head. "That cloud looks like a penis," she said as-a-matter-of-factly. "Don't you think so?"

Amelia felt her mouth gape open involuntarily. "What the fu-"

"It's actually pretty amazing. Striking resemblance to a penis. I wonder if the authorities have gotten on it yet." At this, Russe propped her chin up with her fist, staring off into space. "You'd think the city would have caused an uproar by now. So conservative, some people. Oh, and how are you? You're looking rather red-faced today. Something wrong? Does the penis cloud offend you?"

What infuriated Amelia the most out of the brunette's monologue was that she was being entirely, dead-faced serious with her bizarre questions. She clenched, unclenched and reclenched her fists when the urge to strangle her became unbearably appealing. "Do…you…_ever_ shut the fuck up? Or answer questions? Hell, or even _attempt_ to answer questions without bringing phallus cloud formations into the equation?"

Russe appeared to give her words deep thought before shrugging. "On shutting the fuck up, no. On answering questions, yes." She tapped her free hand on her knee quicker, a silent drummer. "When I see fit. You don't ask me questions that I see fit, I don't answer them. No point in it, you know? Stupid questions are made worse with stupid answers." She looked back up at the sky with squinted eyes. "Oh, the penis cloud has moved."

Within five steps, Amelia stood directly in front of Russe and glowered down at her, sick of her games and word plays and absolutely maddening manner of changing the subject. "You are a mindless, squabbling twit," she hissed, her breathing becoming labored with fury. "And I'll say it again; if you don't tell me who you are right now, I'll turn you in without a second's hesitation."

Russe cocked her head up at her. "But you came to see _me_," she said with a small smile.

"So we're even. You follow me, and I come and pay you little visits to find out who the fuck you are."

Russe rolled her eyes and began to stand up, but Amelia pushed her back down with an irate palm on her shoulder. She sat on the ground again, seemingly unphased. "I already told you who I am," she said with boredom.

"And how do I know that name isn't a fake?"

"Just like you?"

The three words sent Amelia to step back a foot away from her. Regaining her composure (or whatever shard of it remained integral), she glared back down at her and dug her toes into the soles of her shoes tightly. "I have given you no reason to think that I am a fake," she said darkly, "but you, on the other hand, are a downright-"

"Freak?" Russe finished for her. "Funny, I got the same impression from you, too!"

The statement was not meant in an offensive manner, but instead an honest observation that was even more enraging than if it had been. "And just why is that?" Amelia asked.

Russe gave her a questioning look before she tried to stand up again, in which Amelia responded to with a nod. She came to her feet and leaned her back against the wall, reaching into the pocket of her corduroy jacket for a cigarette and lighter. "Because," she began, lighting the smoke casually, "I'm still convinced that Lise Something isn't your real name. You didn't even give me a last name."

"Murray. Happy now?"

"No." Russe took a short puff from her cigarette and exhaled. "No, I'm not. You're not a…a Lise Murray."

"Oh, but I am," Amelia said, imitating the girl's pattern of speech with an exaggerated nod.

Russe scrunched up her nose and grimaced. "You look stupid when you do that. Not good for you…looking stupid, I mean."

Amelia merely stood a safe distance from her, pursing her lips and listening.

"I'm good with people, I really am. And I can read you. Just like a book, I can read you, _Lise. _Especially when you're mad like this, when all your emotions are out in the open like this. You're _weak._ Behind all this hostility, of course." Another drag of her cigarette, and Russe continued. "And you want to know who I am because you don't like having people being able to just get you. You don't like the feeling because you put up this…really kooky show of being so smart and collected, but you're angered easily. See? You're clenching your fists right now." She grinned at Amelia, showing each and every white tooth. "You probably want to punch me right now."

Before Amelia swung her fist at the girl, she made brief mental note of just how good Russe could in fact read her.

Her hit missed, much to her disappointment, but she quickly gathered herself enough to pin Russe to the wall, gripping her shoulders with her fists. She was considerably shorter than the trapped woman, but she glared up at her with an intensity that would not be shadowed by their height difference. "Tell me why you're here. In this city, in this country, in this alley. Tell me or else I'll-"

"Turn me in, I know, I know," Russe said, rolling her eyes again. "So touchy, good grief."

"_Tell me._"

"Fine, fine!" Russe exclaimed. "Could you let me go, at least? My shoulders are a little sore from your attack."

Amelia grudgingly agreed and released her. "Now. Why are you here?"

Russe flicked the ashes dangling from her cigarette and looked around briefly before meeting Amelia's eyes once more. In a low voice, she uttered a lone word.

"Kira."

Amelia nearly choked on her own breath before she backed up again. _Kira…?! Is she in the FBI…? A random civilian who wants to bring him to justice…? What does she mean by Kira…?_ She swallowed hard. "What?"

Russe sighed and disposed of her barely-smoked cigarette. "We might as well walk, you know. Not good to stay in one place for too long, people might hear."

"What do you have to be kept quiet?" Amelia asked shakily. "Russe, what about Kira?"

Russe sensed the urgency in her voice and looked back up at her. "I have _many_ things to keep quiet, Lise Murray. Walk with me."

Amelia did not bother fighting against the suggestion and followed her swiftly. When Russe opened her mouth to speak, she gulped down her own agitation and listened intently.

"I'll say it bluntly: I'm in some business, Lise. Some business that isn't looked down too well upon by Mr. Kira." Russe's dark eyes flit from person to person as they wandered the streets aimlessly, sorting through their features with a suspicious glint. "And this…business that I'm in has been the cause of my family's downfall."

Amelia shook her head in confusion. "Downfall?"

"Oh, yes. As in death, Lise. As in I'm one of the only ones left. Sure, some got out while they could before their names were released, but…well, I just made sure mine wouldn't be."

A nauseous wave rose in Amelia's throat but she swallowed it down. _So she's a criminal…? What business could she be in…? And why is she telling _me_ this…? _

Meanwhile, Russe shoved her fists into the pockets of her jacket and kept her eyes averted from her single audience member. The sun shone against her profile brilliantly, showing the delicate curve of her jawline, the narrow bridge of her nose. "Raleigh-Olten isn't my last name," Russe confessed in a low voice.

_So it was an alias…! But who is she then…? _

"Then what is?" Amelia asked, wiping her clammy palms on the thighs of her jeans.

With a sideways glance, their eyes locked. Amelia bit her tongue to fight back the urge to question her again, knowing it would distract her from the real inquiry at hand, and watched as Russe looked away from her again. They quickened their pace through the streets, Amelia struggling to keep up with the opposing woman's longer legs. "That's not the point," Russe brushed off. "Not the point at all. The point is that I'm here to track someone down before they…"

She cut herself off with a distant gaze off into space once more, seemingly her custom. Amelia was not willing to let the words float away, however, and she peered closely at the striking profile of the woman. "Keep going," she urged. "Before they…?"

Russe shook her head rapidly, her bobbed hair whipping across her face. "Before they nothing. It was a stupid thing to say."

"No, it wasn't." Amelia hurried along to keep up to the girl's side. "Say it, Russe."

"Stupid, stupid thing to say," Russe continued, shaking her head and walking faster.

"God dammit, Russe, out with it!" Amelia disregarded the fact that the people around her were impatiently weaving around them as she grabbed the brunette's shoulder and stopped her, turning her around to face her. "What is it?" she snapped. She was growing weary and desperate for answers. The rushing in her ears could not be blamed on the surrounding city.

Russe stared at Amelia for a good, solid ten seconds before speaking. "I'm seventeen years old."

The voice in which she spoke it in surprised Amelia more than her age, having assumed her to be older. She sounded confused, trying to convey a meaning that could not be read, and her dark eyes were wide and expectant as Amelia stared into them.

"Why are you telling me this?" Amelia asked softly. "What's going on?"

Russe glanced to her left, right, left again and back at Amelia. She leaned in closer to her, as if telling a secret. "How old are you?"

Amelia stepped away instinctively. "Twenty-three. But I'm not telling you anything else until you start making sense stat."

The look in Russe's eyes shifted back to her usual blank dreaminess as she played with the stone pendant of her necklace. "You don't have to," she said with a casual shrug. "And I don't have to either."

"Don't have to what? Make sense?" Amelia felt her breathing pick up again with agitation. "Well, it would be greatly appreciated if you did, because I'm not into the games that you are, alright?"

_Perhaps that was a lie…_

Russe gave a small smile as they began walking again. "I know, I know. I already knew that, you know. You, how they say, 'don't take no shit from anyone', right? I think that's what they call it. Yeh, I know a lot of people like you." She pulled out her lighter from her pocket and flicked it on and off, watching the flame ignite and die out over and over again. "Too bad you have to be so weak, though."

Amelia jerked her head to look at Russe, but saw that the teenager was already looking at her with an eerie sympathy in her eyes. She was not swayed entirely. "I'm _not _weak. Just because I missed hitting you one time doesn't mean I'm-"

"Oh, one time, yeah. Maybe you've never been in the situation where you'd have to hit people. That's probably it now that I think about it…" Russe closed her lighter with finality and dropped it into her corduroy pocket. "But, yes. Twenty-three. You're twenty-three…wow. Practically ancient."

Amelia furrowed her brow but said nothing in response.

"Hmm, so that makes us six years apart," Russe said thoughtfully.

"Obviously," Amelia muttered with annoyance. "There was no point in stating that."

Russe smirked briefly, but Amelia caught it before it was wiped off. The brunette tilted her head upwards toward the sky and wheeled smoothly around a cluster of bustling people. Amelia, however, crashed directly into them, mumbling half-assed apologies beneath her breath as she caught up with the frustrating woman.

"There's no point in stating a lot of things. But that wasn't one of them." Russe flicked her bangs out back into her eyes when another gust of wind tossed them askew.

"Any idiot could see that seventeen and twenty-three would be six years apart."

Russe let out a cool, unruffled laugh, one that did not correlate with her dotty temperament. "You're not an idiot. Believe me. You are _not_ an idiot."

"And you're telling me this because why?"

"Because," Russe quipped out.

Amelia stared at her, wide-eyed and nearly twitching. She spoke nothing in response, deeming to worthless when she predicted the sparky rejoinder she would earn from her. They made a curve in their walking and continued down the sidewalk which followed.

"Look," Russe began, "you asked why I was here, in Japan, in this city, in that alley, in that whatever. I remember you did, quite clearly. In fact, you asked over and over ag-"

"_Yes_, I remember asking you, Russe," Amelia said between her teeth.

"Yes, well. I told you I'm kind of hunting for someone." Russe smacked her palm against her forehead at that, squinting her eyes shut. "Alright, not hunting. Bad word choice, you got me. But I'm looking for someone that's in danger, okay, Lise? They're in danger, lots of it."

Amelia cleared her throat, putting her anger on the backburner now that they had returned to the topic. "From what? What sort of danger are they in?"

Russe hesitated before speaking and gazed at the clouds distractedly. "From two different things, see; the little business my people put me in, and Kira himself. Or herself, I don't give a shit." She waved her hand at the thought, brushing it off carelessly. "But this person will end up like the rest of my family if I don't cut a little Kira throat, understand? Hey, Lise, you understand?"

It was Amelia's final snapping point. She grabbed the young woman by the shoulder and forced her to look into her eyes. "What business are you in, Russe?" she demanded. "I'm sick of having to guess what's behind every little thing you say, so just say it! What business are you in?"

Russe was silent as Amelia scowled at her with a frying patience. When she wormed out of her grasp, Amelia did not falter. She kept her gaze firm and unyielding upon the girl that was quickly stealing her sanity.

_Say it._

"I'm not telling you."

"Yes, you fucking are."

When Russe took a step forward, Amelia found herself stepping back out of habit. After so long of being the one to advance upon her, the tables had turned and Russe at last appeared _angry._ "No, I'm fucking not."

Amelia felt her pulse race with vehemence, quickly spotting a challenge. She took her chances and stepped forward. "Then consider your sick little mindfuck to be over."

"Not really. No, actually, not at all. You should be thanking me right about now instead of playing big bad wolf for once."

Amelia laughed with cruelty, tossing her head back in the manner that the other did. "Thanking you? For _what_? Getting my mind in a knot and toying with it for a little fun? Of course, Russe, you're right, I should be fucking _thanking you._"

People streamed around them in a heavy current. Neither moved along with them, refusing to break the heated stare that webbed between their eyes of cold blue and heavy, glittering brown.

"You truly want to know, _Lise_?" Russe asked, her voice low and weighty. Her bangs fell lower over her eyes, almost completely blocking them off from Amelia, but enough sign of them remained for their stare to still connect. "You want to know who I am? You want to know what I _do_?"

"Yes," Amelia whispered with a hateful intensity, her head bowed and glaring upwards at the brunette.

_Say. It._

"You truly, truly want to know?" Russe took a large step, filling a great deal of the gap between them. Her eyes were gleaming, but Amelia did not look away even for the most minute fraction of a second. "Fine. Since you want to know so badly. Lise Murray, I-"

The chord of her words was severed when Russe was suddenly grabbed by the arm and pulled away by a young man, appearing to be almost a carbon copy of her with the same dark brown hair, almond-shaped eyes and lanky, slender frame. Russe tried tugging her arm out of his hold, but the man forced her to look at him and spoke to her, his eyes burning with the same fire that Amelia was failing at ignoring in the pit of her stomach. "No, you're not getting away again!" she hollered after the two. "You're going to tell me _right now_! Russe!"

The young man released Russe, but she stalked away into the crowd until she was out of sight. A dizzying tide of déjà vu struck Amelia's heart at the haunting sight of the answers she begged for walking away from her mercilessly. Her eyes latched onto the young man, whom had taken up staring at her as well.

Yes, he was a _clone _of Russe, but instead with short curly hair that skimmed the tops of his ears and did not block her sight of his eyes. He appeared too clean-cut to be Russe's male form, what with the black zip-up jacket he wore over a fine grey sweater and jeans lacking tears or grass-stains in the knees.

The look he gave her was of the darkest fascination Amelia had ever seen. He approached her, his stride perfectly balanced and stiff, but she followed suit in pushing others out of the way to press her back against the wall of a building, suddenly panic-stricken at the sight of the stranger.

The young man stopped momentarily in his walking, but stared down at the ground and quickened his pace towards her. He was in front of her before she knew it, not looking at her as he reached into the pocket of his jacket. When his hand returned, he held a scrap of paper that he offered her with a stretch of his arm.

Amelia felt her mouth dry up, making it impossible to speak. She did not reach out to accept the paper, but instead stared at the young man out the corner of her eye once she turned her head away from him.

_What do you want from me…?_

The man was quiet, besides the light sigh that escaped his lips. Very slowly and gently, as if afraid she would burn him, he slid the scrap into the gaping pocket of her jacket before rushing off away from her, his posture stiff-spined and rigid.

_Please…just…say it…_

* * *

With a small portion of Watari's provided yen, Amelia caught a ride back to the hotel and fought off the blurry black spots that invaded the corners of her vision. As the brilliantly-lit rows of shops and advertisements skittered by her, her mind followed a lone track.

_I came to the orphanage when I was six years old…dropped off by my parents…never saw them again…_

_I'm twenty-three years old…Russe, seventeen…_

_"We're six years apart…"_

_Six years old…orphanage…dropped off by parents…_

_"I'm looking for someone that's in danger…"_

_Six years old…orphanage…dropped off by parents…someone in danger…Kira…_

_"Raleigh-Olten isn't my last name…"_

_We're six years apart…parents…never saw them again...simple, simple, simple…_

_"I'm in some business, Lise…one of the only ones left…"_

_I'm not a Lise…she knows…but…_

The cab came to a stop in front of the hotel, quick and jerky and harsh, but Amelia's thoughts spun faster than she had ever managed before in her lifetime.

_Russe…you're…_

As the cab driver announced the fare, Amelia swung open the door and ducked her head. She gaped down at the sidewalk, eyes watering and shock rising in her throat in the form of vomit, and only deepened the realization that punctured her reason for good.

_You're a fucking Lasswell._

* * *

The scrap of paper was not paid any attention to until it fell to the carpet when Amelia removed her jacket.

It contained an address, a phone number and another rush to the sink as Amelia emptied the contents of her stomach.

Ten minutes to seven p.m. She rinsed out her mouth numbly and caught sight of her reflection.

A stranger contemplated her in the mirror. Her eyes were sunken in, weighed down with heavy grey circles; her skin was sickeningly washed out and pale. The stranger's hair hung in awry strands over her face like an auburn mesh, or barbed wire that she would have to escape from or else be slashed.

She decided not to further pain herself. Trudging out of the bathroom and pulling on a heavier sweater, realizing that she was freezing, she grabbed her newly purchased camera and a fresh tape to secure in her duffel bag. She took the elevator this time, opting for something that required less energy, and clambered into the backseat of the cab operated by Watari.

"Ms. Amelia," the man addressed quietly from the driver's seat, "are you sure that you wish to do this?"

Amelia closed her eyes and rested her cheek against the cooling glass of the window. She nodded subtly. "Yeah, I'm sure," she hoarsely proclaimed. "Very…very sure, Watari…"

The engine revved and no more words were spoken. Amelia was quickly embraced in sleep, hunched in the backseat and cuddling her duffel bag in her lap. Images of L's arms tenderly taking her frail being into his morphed into scraps of paper, of seventeen-year-olds with dreamy eyes and carbon copies and twisted smiles, all aimed at her screaming self that slowly crumbled into the ground. She was stomped upon with ratty sneakers, laughter filling her decomposing ears and a victorious eulogy read by Kira himself.

She was awoken with a paternal, warm hand on her shoulder. "Ms. Amelia," Watari said, "we are here."

She glanced around wearily and saw that the large stone building awaited her down the walkway. Watari had opened her door for her, sending a quick jolt of guilt to flash through her veins. "Thank you," she said groggily as she took the man's hand and exited the cab. Her duffel bag lay against her hip as she slowly approached the prison, following Watari to the best of her ability.

"You are fully aware that L will see this on the footage, Ms. Amelia?"

Amelia paused before entering the door in which Watari unlocked. "Yes," she said quietly, "yes, I'm aware of that."

"As long as you know that."

The two were silent as Amelia was led through the stairwells of the prison up into a vacant floor of cells, with the exception of one young man that she knew would be residing in the back. Her hand reached into her bag for the camera and film, setting the tape into the appropriate slot. Her heart thrashed in her chest like a wild, red-eyed brute.

With Watari waiting at the end of the hall, Amelia walked onward until she stood before the cell that contained a thinner, trembling Light Yagami sitting against the bed on the cold flooring, his forehead resting atop his knees. When she placed her bag by her feet, he looked up swiftly with disbelieving eyes. "…Lise?"

_L will see this…he is watching you right now…_

Amelia swallowed down as much doubt and fear that she could stomach. Light was awaiting an answer with stunned sepia eyes and now-overgrown hair. The shaggy look did not suit him, but the new attitude lessened Amelia's tightened throat by a tenfold.

Mustering up the strength to respond, she sat upon the floor in front of the black bars of the cell. "Hello, Light," she greeted with a cold gravity. The name sounded foreign in her ears with this stranger before her, a young man that she had despised for his cockiness that was now just a shaggy teenager with his hands locked behind his back.

Before Light said anything more, she turned on the camera and pressed record.

* * *

**Alas! Russe is a freak and Amelia is falling apart. She needs a good hug from L, which is arriving soon…**

**And as you can guess, the young man that tugged Russe back will also be an addition…an important one, as well.**

**Reviews? Yes, reviews. I do love them.**


	27. Brother

**Good lord, another incredibly long chapter…but all answers are given here in regards to Russe, and the brother that Amelia shall now meet! **

**By the way, expect a lovely little lemon in the next chapter. ::giggle::**

**I don't pwn Death Note.**

* * *

_What…? Amelia…Watari must have brought her to the prison…I figured that she would make some sort of a move, but not this direct…_

The duet of voices that erupted around L, belonging to a shrieking Matsuda and an irate Aizawa, were brutally blocked out once the cogs of his brain rotated into high gear. Whatever the two men were saying was none of his concern, for the spindly girl with the blue eyes was on his screen, sitting in front of Light Yagami's cell as if it were a picnic.

_I underestimated her willpower…and now here she is, appearing so close, but…no! No, she's not there for you, she's there for the sole reason of the information regarding Light-kun reaching her through Watari…but why would she do it so incredibly intimately…? Moreover, why are you so stunned…?_

He stared at her, transfixed, his fingers twitching to reach out to the screen and pull her into the room with him. Realizing his absurdity, he sat upon his hands and stared vacantly at the image of Amelia, pulse racing.

_Because she's Amelia, and because you love her. _

* * *

The reaction that Light provided Amelia with lived up to her expectations without disappointment.

"Lise…? What's going on? Why are you…?" Light swallowed hard and crawled upon his knees closer to the blackened bars. His hair was overgrown, shaggy, falling in front of those eyes in which had once been so arrogant and gleaming with confidence, and the lack of attempt at flicking it out of the way told Amelia how little he cared. His hands cuffed behind his back, he was unable to reach out and grasp her, but the desperation in his voice clung onto Amelia harder than any hand ever could. "Why do you have a camera on me?" he asked timidly.

Amelia quickly came to her wits, pushing away her fascination at this new boy, and cleared her throat. "Recording your progress," she said hoarsely. "I'm currently on leave, so this was the only possible way."

_You're lying…there were other ways to do this…_

"On leave?" Light asked, his voice small and quiet at the question. "Did someone send you to do this? Ryuzaki?"

Amelia shook off the cold wave rising in her nerves and adjusted the camera's position on the floor, capturing more of Light. "No one sent me, Light," she attested. "This is all my doing, I can assure you."

Light seemed to mull something over in his brain, judging by the sudden distant glaze to his eyes, but he returned to Amelia with his unusually shaken voice. "Lise…I know this isn't appropriate for me to ask, but-"

"Yes, I still suspect you, Light," Amelia finished for him. The biting sharpness that she had once used whilst talking to him had been disposed of unwillingly, however, and her words came out a notch too soft and a level too gentle. She tried to harden the look in her eyes upon him, but only succeeded in sighing and looking away. "Although…this is most certainly a change in you that I'm unsure of how to react to."

"A change?" Light furrowed his brow and backed away from the bars about a foot before settling onto the ground again. "If you still suspect me, then how could there be any change?"

Amelia turned her eyes back to him, bewildered by the innocent fog that lay thick over his voice. A sudden thought came to her and she reached up to the weakened ponytail that held her hair off her neck. "What do you think of my hair, Light?" she asked as she pulled the hair tie out, letting the woolen waves fall down her shoulders.

The confusion in Light's eyes deepened and he stared at her, questioning her motives with a curious glint in his gaze. "It's, uh…it looks just fine to me, Lise, but what does that have anything to do with-"

"Does it look better up or down? I need your opinion." She kept her voice casual, in spite of the quickly spinning thoughts within her head that contradicted her faux calm.

_May 22nd, Aoyama…"You have very nice hair, you know..."_

As Light gaped at her, she continued to churn freshly brimming thoughts behind the eyes that delved into his.

_"Like I said, you look very nice with your hair down like that…"_

"Light?" she asked, cocking her head lightly.

The boy in question cleared his throat, still seemingly thrown by her unexpected inquiry. "It looks nice up," he said with an awkward shrug. "Did that have anything to do with what we're talking about?"

"It has everything to do with what we're talking about, Light," Amelia said in a low voice, as if afraid that anything above their quiet volume would shatter the entire prison. "What happened to you?"

The question was straight-forward, entirely raw and cleared free of the sugar that blocked her from getting real answers out of him. She leaned forward on her palms, peering at him closely as he widened his eyes at her. "What happened to me?" he repeated breathlessly. "I'm in a jail cell under the suspicion of being Kira, that's what happened to me."

"But why are you here?" Amelia asked firmly. "Do you remember what put you here? Or did you just wake up one day on cement floor, not knowing where you were?" She was now as close to the boy as she could get, gripping the bars of the cell with white knuckles.

Light backed away considerably, struggling to make any distance with his disabled hands behind his back. "I don't know!" he exclaimed, voice cracking. "I…I know that I've been a suspect for some time now, but I can't make Ryuzaki or anyone listen to me when I say that I'm not!"

"You _put _yourself in here, Light," Amelia hissed. "I was there when you made the request to the entire task force, when you said you didn't feel comfortable on the case until you were proven innocent. Are you saying now that that entire affair was just one big performance to you?"

"I know I asked to be put in here!" Light took a steadying breath, but failed and exhaled sharply, trembling. "And I don't know what made me think it was a good idea, but I had to have been set up! You may think it's a lie all you want, just like Ryuzaki, but I'm _not Kira_!"

"No one outside the task force knows about your confinement, Light." Amelia gripped the bars tighter until the muscles in her hands strained beneath the skin painfully. "Suggesting being set up is useless, especially when _you_ were the one that landed yourself on this floor." She furrowed her brow, sharpening her stare upon him, and his shoulders noticeably stiffened at the sight. "And now I ask you, without any formalities or any of that rubbish - Light Yagami, _are you Kira_?"

Her final words were not spoken; they slithered free from her tongue with the acidity of a lemon directly onto taste buds, a whispered crescendo that brought her suspect to his knees. He shot up, nearly stumbling over, and scooted up to face her again, their eyes a mere three inches apart. "How many times am I going to have to defend myself against you?"

The air in the prison was chilled as it bit against Amelia's face, suddenly colder now that she was so close to the young man whom challenged her glare. His gaze, however, was significantly less angry, smoldering instead with a need for answers and a longing for Amelia to hear him out.

But this was a suspect. However much he had changed over the past week, he was still Light Yagami.

Even still, Amelia could not bring herself to be bitter with him any longer. The look in his eyes was not sour; it was one of a caged animal desperate to be released back into the wild.

She bit her tongue, backed away from the bars and sat back down on the cement floor. Her cobalt eyes flit up to him briefly before she whispered, "However many times it takes for me to believe you."

* * *

L could attempt to forget it. He could force his brilliant mind to stray from it as far as he wished; it was no _crime_ to try to soothe a burn by forgetting.

Failing, however, was a different story, for when Amelia had glanced up at the camera monitor just before she left, their eyes had unintentionally locked, his eyes having been on her the entire time.

L could attempt to forget what it felt like to almost have her right there with him again.

* * *

Amelia did not stay long once morning peeked its head through the window.

She stood before the mirror of the bathroom, tugging a comb through her hair and untangling the impossible knots it had formed after her shower. The color had returned to her face, however pale her natural skin tone was anyway, her eyes were brighter than she remembered them being the night before.

_Because you've gotten off your ass and done something…_

"Shit," she muttered once the comb ripped through a particularly large tangle. She rubbed the sore spot on her scalp from the pull and replaced the comb onto the sink counter with a glower. "Like a goddamn machete…"

"One could say that," a voice from the door said, "but they're not quite as violent."

Amelia gave a small smile at Watari, whom stood in the open doorway of the bathroom. "It's not too much of a stretch to say it when you have hair like this," she said, pointing to her wild hair.

Watari removed his hat for a moment and placed his palm over his head with a curious expression on his worn face. "I don't recall ever having long red hair in my lifetime, Ms. Amelia."

For the first time in over a week, Amelia genuinely laughed, shoulders racking and snorting when she breathed in. She covered her mouth at the wretched sound. "Forgive me," she chuckled out, "I hate it when I do that."

Watari gave her his usual warm smile and shook his head. "I must say, it's a relief to see you laughing again. I was growing quite concerned."

Amelia cleared her throat and ran her fingertips over the edge of the counter, nodding. "I keep myself busy. It's better than bumming around like a toad, I suppose."

"Do you plan on going out this afternoon?"

Amelia looked back at her reflection, studying her features as if they were foreign to her. "No, actually I was planning on leaving this morning."

"This morning?"

Amelia retrieved the scrap of paper from the pocket of her jeans and held it out to Watari with a childish anxiety. "Do you know where this is, Watari?" she asked softly. "It's…quite necessary that I go there today."

Watari furrowed his brow at the address on the paper and looked back up at Amelia inquiringly. "Whose address does this belong to, Ms. Amelia?"

Amelia cleared her throat again, suddenly nervous at the idea of seeing Russe and the strange gentleman that day. "An old friend," she said with a shrug. "I ran into her on an outing just recently and she gave me her contacts. I thought it would be a nice change to see her, don't you think?"

Watari kept his gaze calm and steady upon her, but eventually looked back at the paper. "Have you called this number to be sure of its legitimacy?"

_You can't lie to him…_

"No," Amelia admitted.

Watari slowly handed the paper back to her and nodded. "Perhaps you should do that before we leave?" he suggested quietly.

Amelia pushed back a sigh of relief and simply returned his nod with fervor. "Yes, of course. Thank you, Watari."

The ashen-haired man smiled at her before walking away and leaving Amelia alone in the bathroom. She stared at the space he had occupied, heart pounding at having to speak with Russe or whoever picked up the phone; it could very well be the dark-haired young man that had given her the address in the first place, in which sent her pulse soaring and palms sweating. She wiped her hands off on her thighs and took a deep breath before pushing the door closed and pulling out her cell phone from her pocket. She timidly dialed the number and listened to the foreboding sound of the phone ringing on the other line.

Someone picked up after only two rings. _"Wow, that was quick."_

While Amelia was relieved at the sound of Russe's cryptic voice instead of a male stranger, she instinctively narrowed her eyes and sat upon the edge of the bathtub. "How did you know this was me?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

_"Oh, Arwen doesn't give out our number to anyone. Thought you would assume that, you think I'm a freak already, right?"_

Amelia scoffed at the accusation but kept to the topic. "Is Arwen the boy who gave me the paper?"

Russe gave a twitter of a laugh on the other end. _"Yeh, he's a quiet one, isn't he? Anyway, he thought it would be best if he spoke to you in person somewhere besides a street, you know? He's not too bad, just a little-"_

"He's your brother, is he not?" Amelia cut in softly. While the tone of her voice was sharp, she kept the volume down so as to not be overheard by Watari outside the door. "He looked exactly like you."

_"Twins normally have that effect, don't they?"_

Amelia clenched her free fist, already agitated by her, but she took a deep breath and calmed her pounding nerves. "I'll be paying you two a little visit today, then. I do hope you won't try to kill me or any of that," she quipped with a heavy sarcasm.

_"I was expecting you to revert to your little theories about me," _Russe said cheerfully. _"When will you be here? I have to tell Arwen a time before he loses his head."_

_Loses his head…? Does he actually _want_ to see me or something…?_

"I'll be leaving shortly," Amelia replied.

_"Goodie, goodie."_

Before Amelia hung up, she hurriedly placed the phone back to her ear. "Another thing."

_"Yeh?"_

Amelia squeezed her eyes shut before opening them and glaring off straight ahead of her. Another deep breath later, she spoke. "We're clearing something up before anything happens."

Russe laughed again, this time softer. She seemed to hesitate as well before saying, "_Welcome to sisterhood, Lise Murray."_

Amelia heard the line click courtesy of Russe as her jaw went slack, her blood turn cold. Shakily, she clicked the end button on her phone as well and replaced it in her pocket as she stood up, legs weak. _She knows…she has to know that I figured it out…_

She severed her own thoughts, seeing them as nothing more than fuel to her own fear, and opened the bathroom door. "Watari?" she called out, walking out into the living room of their suite.

The man sat in the armchair, a newspaper folded open before him. He promptly closed it and set it upon the coffee table. "I take it that you are ready, Ms. Amelia?"

Amelia swallowed down a lump of apprehension that rose in her throat and nodded. As Watari stood up and led her to the door, she stared down at her shoes and tried to slow the spinning of her mind, but to no avail.

_Well, welcome to sisterhood, Amelia…_

* * *

Aizawa had never paid so much attention to Ryuzaki than when he got just a rank too quiet.

He knew he was a hypocrite; he cringed whenever the detective spoke because he despised what he had to say. The notes that should have stayed in Ryuzaki's head had the maddening tendency to voice themselves from his lips right when Aizawa was about to sip his coffee, startling him to the point in which the scalding drink would spill down his shirt. Curses were muttered, shirts were changed, and the cycle repeated.

Then again, he hated it when the young man was this quiet, because at any second those thoughts could come barreling out at him again and send his coffee flying through the air and landing on his button-up. This particular morning was one of those, in which Ryuzaki crouched in his armchair and stared off into space, not looking at anything yet looking at everything at once. Aizawa held his coffee with trepidation in the distance, afraid to make any sudden movements so as to avoid provoking the detective's thoughts to be unleashed again. When the string of silence stretched out another few seconds, he slowly raised the mug to his lips and took a quick sip, his eyes skeptical on Ryuzaki the whole time.

Another sip of coffee was safe. Aizawa relished it, but swallowed it quickly before it would be ruined by the man's vocalizations that could rear their heads at any second.

When he saw Ryuzaki lifting his own cup of coffee to his lips (or perhaps it was tea; he had not been drinking too much coffee lately), Aizawa grinned with mischief and set his mug onto the table before him. "Hey, Ryuzaki!" he bellowed.

Just as planned, the young man jumped in surprise, his cup falling out of his hands and the liquid within it spilling down his shirt. Aizawa watched in wicked amusement as Ryuzaki mustered up a sigh and slowly turned his head to him, eyes narrowed and supremely fuming. "_Yes_, Aizawa-san?"

Aizawa bit back his broadening grin and shook his head. "Sorry, I forgot what I was going to ask."

He could not help but smirk as Ryuzaki hopped up out his chair and ambled away to the bedroom, fists shoved a little too hard into his pockets.

* * *

The ride on the way to Russe's apartment would have been silent, had it not been for Amelia's mind on a rampage in the backseat of Watari's cab.

Having told Watari that she would call him once her visit was finished, she stood before the door of the Raleigh-Olten complex, grimacing at the alias that lived just behind the door. She gripped the strap of her duffel bag and proceeded to stare down at her shoes again.

_You can leave any time…in fact, you could leave right now, call Russe and tell her to forget about it and leave you alone…_

With a cold, determined look back up at the door, Amelia reached for the doorknob, disregarding knocking.

Before her hand met the rusted, round handle, the door opened.

* * *

The water fell in hot, darting streams, lavishing the bathroom in a thick mist of vapor. Beneath this fog, almost indiscernible in the pale film of steam, L stood beneath the shower head, eyes closed and hair flopping over his face sketchily.

His hands were clasped atop his head for no viable reason in particular; he found it comfortable, as opposed to them hanging limp by his sides for the blood to rush down to. His fingertips dug into the wet mop of inky hair, gently pressing into his scalp and easing off. He slowly exhaled through the slight gap of his lips and inhaled, holding his breath.

_Get out of my mind._

Exhale. The muscles of his shoulders strained from his arms' position atop his head, and L allowed one arm to relax and drop down to his side, his other hand tugging lightly at his hair.

_Get out of my mind. You don't belong here._

Blue eyes. Blue eyes embroidered into his conscience.

_You just won't leave._

Inhale. So tense…

_Amelia…_

His free hand reached up to his shoulder and assisted in rolling it back and rubbing the sore muscles, tilting his head to the side. The hot water of the showerhead beat down upon his tired body as L felt his fingers twitch slightly before resting on his hip, just barely grazing his skin, enough for his nerves to react. Exhale, slower now, holding out each second of breath in his lungs.

Without thinking, his fingertips roamed upwards to the flat, magnolia surface of his stomach and settled on his chest. Her lips had been just a little lower not so long ago, and his mind involuntarily wondered to the memory and lingered. Up, up, and his touch rested lightly upon his lips, his free hand gripping his hair a tad tighter. By now, his shoulders were so incredibly tense that it was almost painful to breathe. L rolled them back again, hearing a relieving crack, but the tension remained in his joints, all throughout his body, just below his hips…

His eyes snapped open immediately. He was now aware of how hard his heart was pounding, how much his blood had warmed over the past thread of seconds, and he quickly dropped his hand from his lips and turned off the water.

He had never been so disgusted with himself in his life.

* * *

"Hullo!"

The dark-eyed figure of Russe greeted Amelia all too soon as the door flung open, nearly knocking her out. She took a moment to regain her wits and looked up at the tall girl with a grimace. "Must you be so flamboyant all the time?" she muttered.

"No, not quite," Russe said, shaking her bobbed head so that her hair fanned over her oval face. "But I had a feeling you would be a big grump about this, so I might as well attempt to keep the spirits up." She shrugged her narrow shoulders. "Come on in, then. No shoes, blah blah blah."

Amelia cocked her head as she followed her into the apartment. "You don't strike me as the kind to care about shoes inside."

"Oh, I'm not," Russe jabbed. "Arwen's the nervous one out of us three. Just like Mum."

Amelia felt a cold shot of anxiety bite at her nerves at the mentioning of "mum". Before she could say anything, Russe spoke again as she walked away. "Anyway, sit, stand, dance, do whatever you want, I don't care. Arwen's just waking up."

"I thought you told him I was coming, Russe," Amelia said dryly, impatient with the girl already. When Russe only served her with a blank stare, she sighed and placed her bag on a small wooden chair by the door. "Never mind."

Russe shrugged again and walked off into the kitchen, leaving Amelia with the time to study her surroundings better. The apartment complex that housed Russe could have been an exact replica of Amelia's late one, besides one fact; the floors were piled with books, some cranked open, some appearing to have never been read a day in their were _everywhere_, on top of counters, in between the couch cushions, stacked and wedged behind cups and bowls in the kitchen shelves. Amelia stepped over them clumsily, trying to keep the stacks orderly. "Do you have anything to read, Russe?" she asked beneath her breath. She straightened an askew book atop a pile with a nudge of her toe and heard the footsteps of Russe from the kitchen.

"Oh, these are mostly Arwen's," she said offhandedly. The seventeen-year-old strolled Amelia, scuffing her bare on the wooden floor. "Big book maniac, that's what he is. I don't know how he does it. Reads at least five a week, just because he has nothing better to do."

Amelia picked up a fallen book on the floor and placed it atop the nearest cluster. "Why doesn't he get a job? They tend to keep you busy."

Russe snorted and removed her corduroy jacket, exposing a loose-fitting yellow t-shirt beneath it, and threw it onto the worn couch. "That's saying that Arwen should be around people. Not a good idea…quite an awful one, actually."

Amelia bit back another grimace. _And of course my siblings are socially fucked, too…_ "Hmm, well, sorry. I'm all out of suggestions."

For reasons unknown, Russe giggled. "This is going to be so fun."

Amelia scrunched up her nose in annoyance. "I highly doubt you have me the address to have a rousing good time amongst-"

She had started with the intention of saying "friends", but the knowing smirk in Russe's eyes cut her off. She leaned against the arm of the couch, keeping her eyes on the floor.

"Amongst _siblings_, Amelia. Brother to sister, sister to sister," Russe said, grinning with a glint in her eyes. "Man, it sure feels weird saying your name."

"Don't get used to it," Amelia hissed. The sensation of hearing her name come from lips besides L's and Watari's made her nauseous. It did not feel right; it felt foreign hearing it from this girl, this freak, this…sister. It was almost as cryptic as "sister" itself.

Russe frowned deeply, bowing her head. "Oh, but _why_? No sister should have to use a fake name around family."

_Family…_

Amelia kicked over a stack of books accidentally when she moved to sit on the windowsill. Her plan dashed, she knelt down and began collecting the books into one column again. "I'm not a normal sister, Russe," she began, as if speaking to a child, "for reasons you probably wouldn't pay any mind to. I can't throw my name around at my own leisure. Let's just leave it at that."

"Well, neither can I, you know." Russe watched Amelia oddly as she restacked the books, playing with the hem of her shirt in the same fashion that Amelia did. "You and Arwen are the only ones who know my real name anyway, besides Mum and Dad, of course."

Amelia sighed and focused on each book she picked up instead of her proclaimed little sister. The collection was entirely made up of titles beginning with "P", and she realized that all the stacks around her were alphabetized as well. _They won't notice…_ "Then you understand the importance of keeping your identity on the down low, right? Or do I have to explain it to you just like everything else that concerns me?"

"I don't need you to explain it, I just think it's a little silly that-"

"Of course you think it's silly," Amelia muttered as she finished stacking the books. "But never fear, I wasn't expecting you to get it." She sat back on the windowsill and stared out at the city beneath. Its view was similar to what she had seen each day outside her own apartment; run down, exhausted, washed in grey and rust. She pursed her lips and looked back at Russe, disturbed.

She closed her mouth the second she saw the young man from before standing in the bedroom doorway.

He stared at her with the same dark fascination that Amelia had been served with when she had first seen him in the city. While his rich brown hair still hung low over his eyes, she could see something that seemed to be on the brink of anger as he eyed her up. Amelia cast her eyes down at the floor and waited for words to meet her ears.

None came from the boy, but she heard the dotty voice of Russe instead. "This is your sis, Arwen. Big sis, isn't that weird?" She uttered a little chuckle and approached Amelia, taking her arm and leading her towards the stiff-spined boy. "Looks more like mum, don't you think? Lucky thing."

Amelia kept her eyes on the floor, timid to meet that stare that reminded her of how truly out of place she felt in the middle of the book farm of an apartment the twins possessed.

"Sad that this is how we have to meet her, though…but she's here! Say hi to her, Arwen, come along. Don't just stand there like a-"

"Did you know about us?"

His voice took Amelia by surprise as she jerked her head up, mouth agape. It was less than a question, more than a statement, for it was entirely flatlined and cold to her ears, hardened upon each syllable and biting into her conscience. She cleared her throat nervously and shook her head. "No," she mouthed, unable to reach any volume with her voice.

"We came to see you, you know," Arwen began in a dangerous voice; low, shaking. "Mum brought us when we were five to your little genius house."

"Arwen, don't get into this right n-"

"No, Russe," Arwen interjected. He kept his eyes on Amelia, burning into her with dark, dark brown. "She needs to know, doesn't she? She is our sister after all, right?"

"Arwen-"

"She needs to know what became of the family after she went off to become some little prodigy!"

His final word brought Amelia to sharp, heated attention. "Prodigy?" she repeated, taking a stunned step back. "You don't know _anything_ about what happened when I was a child! How can you just assume tha-"

"We came to see you, with Mum, to your little house of geniuses to get you back." Arwen took a shuddering breath, heavy brown eyes narrowing in the same fashion that Amelia found herself following. He took a quick step towards her, blazing. "Mum was in hysterics on the doorstep, Russe and I standing behind her wondering what the hell she was crying about. And you know what they did?"

At this, the young man swallowed hard and pushed away what appeared to be tears crawling free. "They took one look at her, told her that Amelia Lasswell had never been on the grounds and that it was a _privacy_ matter, or some _shit._"

"Arwen, stop!" Russe bellowed from behind Amelia.

Amelia squeezed her eyes shut, warding off her supposed brother with darkness.

"But how could Catherine Lasswell be wrong when it was her daughter that was taken

from her?!"

Silence. Eyes opened slowly. Amelia felt her stomach lurch, her chest tighten in disbelief. "Taken from her?" she whispered icily. "Is that what she told you?"

Arwen merely stood by, trembling and awaiting her words. The bleak afternoon sun climbing into the apartment washed over him, paling his skin and sparking his dark eyes with flecks of cold amber. A stranger meant to be her brother, with his crisp clothing atop a spindly body, contradicting his careless hair horridly; he was more or less the freak in the room, standing in a circle of stacks of books while attempting to appear put-together.

This was her brother. She despised him.

The wrath bubbled in Amelia's throat and expelled itself before she could put sense to it. "You don't know _anything_ about who I am!" she screamed. "Our parents dropped me off at an orphanage before you were born!" She began regaining the steps towards him that she lost and saw something shift in his eyes; intimidation. "They got rid of me before you even knew that I existed, before I even knew what the fuck was going on! It's not like I just upped and left at my own free will!"

She felt Russe cup her shoulder gently from behind. "Amelia, calm down-"

Amelia ripped free from her touch and lurched towards Arwen again, seeing red. "Do you want to know about my years as a _prodigy_? I was a kid abandoned by her own parents at a place I'd never been before. The people there, they gave me tests to see how capable I was of staying. I didn't know why they were testing me, but god dammit, I did it, and they labeled me as gifted. _Genius. _I was six fucking years old, I didn't _want_ to be a _prodigy."_

The brown-eyed boy furiously wiped a stray tear that clung to his long eyelashes and turned his back to her, breathing heavily.

"I didn't know anyone, no one knew me," Amelia continued, the volume of her voice dwindling with exhaustion. "They gave me a name. Cait. It was an awful name, and they wouldn't tell me why they gave it to me, but I kept taking tests and somehow I made it to the top with another child that attended."

By now, her voice had cracked and broken down to a soft, tired droning, the words struggling to make it off her tongue. While Arwen's back was still to her, his breathing had died down to almost regular, although it would jerk with a recollecting gasp. She took a deep breath and continued.

"I was _good _at something, Arwen. I'm not good at much, but I was smart, so I accepted it and worked with it. But _never_ did I have plans of becoming anything more than a Lasswell before I learned that it was possible. And I am _no_ prodigy."

A bitter silence fell over the room like a heavy mist. Amelia resumed in catching her breath, astonished with herself, for the anger that had once been so alive and present had suddenly wilted and died out. _Mum lied to him, it's not his fault…and he is your brother, like it or not…_

After a few more quiet seconds, Amelia looked up slowly at Arwen, whose back was still to her. "I just gave you my answers," she whispered. "Now I need yours."

Arwen's shoulders shook again with a gasp, his crying settling down, but he did not turn to her. "What answers did you come for?"

Amelia turned to Russe and saw that she had her back against the wall, staring at the two as if they were strangers. Her deep-set eyes met with Amelia's, and she sighed, giving her a desperate look. Amelia ignored it and looked back at Arwen. "Why aren't you two in school?"

Arwen turned around to face her, his eyes still glistening from his crying spell. "How did you…?"

"So I was right," Amelia said softly. "You're twins, you're seventeen, and you've both graduated early?"

Arwen looked down at the floor and cleared his throat. "I had to drop out," he whispered. "So did Russe."

Amelia's eyes widened in disbelief. "You both _dropped out of_-"

"It was Mum's word," Russe said from behind her. "We had to drop out last year if we were going to help her with-"

"Russe!" Arwen snapped.

Amelia caught onto what Russe was trying to say and took a quick series of steps towards her, hungry for the answers just out of her reach. "Help Mum with what? The business that Kira disapproves of?"

She saw Russe's eyes flit over to Arwen's feverishly, her lips trying to form words, but she looked back at Amelia and shook her head rapidly. "I can't-"

"How much did you tell her, Russe?" Arwen demanded, voice near cracking point again.

Amelia glanced over her shoulder at Russe's handsome twin. "That's exactly the point. She hasn't told me enough."

Arwen's eyes flashed. "There isn't anything to know, Amelia."

There it was again; her name. It was the very reminder that this was her brother, her little brother, at that, and she took a deep, shuddering breath before saying, "I am your sister, aren't I? I deserve to know, right?"

Arwen's brow furrowed, seemingly on the brink of crying again, but he sniffed hard and shook off his tension. Amelia kept her eyes on him and watched him as he turned to look out the window hazily. "I'm in danger," she stated in monotone. "Russe? Isn't that right?" She did not turn around to face her sister.

"I never said tha-"

"You said you came to Japan because someone was in danger." Amelia made sure to keep her voice low, under the chance that someone outside the door could hear the conversation. "Then you said they were under a threat because of a business that your family is in and Kira."

Arwen's spine stiffened to a painful extent, but he refused to return her prodding gaze.

"I've already figured out that that person is me. You found me because being a Lasswell can get me killed by Kira…isn't that it?" Amelia cleared her throat, feeling a welling of tears in her throat. "And you're trying to save me from…from Kira…"

_I have to tell them…but…n-no! I can't tell them about the task force…or L…but they have to know…_

"How did you know who I was, Russe?" she whispered.

Russe remained glued to the wall, tugging at her shirt nervously. "You look just like Mum. Exactly alike, actually. And your accent…I mean, how many Scots do you find roaming Japan?" She laughed softly.

"And how did you know I was in Japan without ever meeting me before?"

Russe opened her mouth to speak, but Arwen's soft voice interjected, causing Amelia to whip around to face him. "We didn't," he said. He still stared out the window, the light of the morning setting an amber glow to his eyes. He sat upon the windowsill, one knee up, head leaning against the glass. "We searched England while we were in high school, but once we turned seventeen, we left the country and came to Japan. Kira had managed to knock off three of our cousins by then…"

Amelia felt her jaw go slack. What was he talking about? "Because of the business that the Lasswells are in?"

The distant look in Arwen's eyes called for no hesitation on Amelia's behalf. She approached him and stood directly by his side, peering at him desperately. "What is the business that Kira is killing off, Arwen?" she ordered shakily. "_Why_ are you here?"

Her heartbeat thrashed in her ears. It seemed to echo so deafeningly loud that Amelia had to recollect herself once Arwen opened his mouth, slowly turning his head to look at her.

"Our family is connected to a chain of businesses that will do anything to make it to the top," he explained quietly. "Our father was the head of the English branch until Russe and I were eleven, when our uncle took over after his resignation." Arwen turned back to the window, his eyes narrowed and lethal. "But Kira killed our uncle, as well as his three sons that were also in the business."

Amelia stood by in awe, her blood wired with both shock and disgust. "Why wasn't our father killed?" she asked weakly.

"The same reason that Russe and I weren't; he didn't use Lasswell as his surname. Our uncle, on the other hand…wasn't expecting Kira to act so fast."

Amelia swallowed down the wave of nausea that crept up her throat, but let him resume.

"The Japanese branch of the chain of business is called Yotsuba," Arwen said, his voice picking up speed. "It's been the rival of the English branch for decades, and our father is trying to regain the head title in England in order to override Yotsuba."

Amelia tried to swallow, but her throat was clenching at the anecdote her brother was serving her. _My father…he's a criminal…Kira has killed members of my family…but if they're criminals, then what does that mean for me…? Does this go against what I had initially thought…? But…_

"What is the business involved with?" she asked tightly.

Russe let out a huff of air. "You already know too much any-"

"Money laundering, for the most part," Arwen interjected, now looking at Amelia face on. He glanced over at Russe, urging her to be quiet, and looked back at Amelia. "They're notorious for scaring other big businesses into handing over cash with severe consequences if they don't agree to it."

Amelia took a step away from Arwen, coming to a realization. "And you say that you and Russe are involved in this business?" she asked coldly. The gravity of her voice caused Arwen to look down at his hands, wringing them together.

"Russe and I were forced into helping Mum and Dad when we were kids," he said with a heavy undertone. "The business used children to pull off their scams with other corporations…hostage situations turned into an everyday thing with us two."

"Arwen-"

The boy darted his eyes to his twin, golden russet flashing with anger. "Amelia gave us her story!" Upon realizing how he had raised his voice yet again, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I think she deserves ours, don't you, Russe?"

Amelia looked back at Russe, questioning her wordlessly, and saw her weighty eyes soften upon her before she bowed her head. She gave a gentle nod, and Amelia returned the gesture, turning back to Arwen. "You were held hostage?"

Arwen stood up from the windowsill and leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. Almond eyes fixed on the floor instead of Amelia's face, he took another deep breath and went on. "That's what I said," he replied softly.

"And our parents were behind this?" Amelia's tone grew dark at the very thought that her parents would willingly place the twins in danger, but she remembered that her mother had disposed of her on a cold brick porch of an alien place, and it was suddenly not so unlikely.

"Hell, they helped initiate it, Amelia." Arwen reached up to his collar and pulled at it in agitation, tilting his head to the side. "It was just the way things worked. But we always knew it was wrong."

Amelia studied the boy's young face, the hardened look in his eyes in which blazed in comparison to Russe. For a moment, she felt as though he were her twin instead of Russe's, with the same grave expression and sharp tongue, but had been given the wrong genetics. When she did not notice the almond eyes and wavy, dark hair, it was as though she was looking in a mirror, gazing at herself in male form. _They must look like our father…how ironic that I would get Mum's face…_

"Russe and I have been following the Kira case very closely," Arwen said, "to be on the watch for any more corporate deaths…"

When his voice trailed off, Amelia furrowed her brow in concern, her mind traveling back to the task force. _If Arwen and Russe have connections to big corporations, they could help prevent more Kira murders…but how much do they know already…?_

Arwen's eyes paled into the strange, bright amber when he turned his face back to the window, twisting his shirt collar between his pale fingers. "…and Kira has began killing corporation members again."

* * *

"Ryuzaki, Ryuzaki! Listen to this!"

The sudden piping of Matsuda's voice sent a flurry of alarm through L's state of mind and he gave a start, turning around to the young officer coming through the door. "_Yes, _Matsuda? Enlighten me," he greeted dryly.

Matsuda rushed over to where L sat, passing by a nearly asleep Aizawa on the couch. "Kira's started killing again! A week's worth of criminals, all wiped out! Isn't it incredible?"

L bit down hard upon his tongue, but showed no visible reaction to the officer. _Criminals have been killed while Light-kun and Misa-san are being confined…could it truly be possible that-_

"Let's tell the chief!" Matsuda chirped, pressing the intercom button quicker than L could reach. "Hey, chief! You'll never believe it!"

L watched as Soichiro Yagami bounded up out of his chair on the screen and whipped his attention to the camera, his eyes wild and shadowed. "_What is it, Matsuda?" _he ordered feverishly.

_"_Kira's killing again! You know what that means?"

At this, L closed his eyes in slight agitation at his jumping to conclusions, but listened as the chief spoke.

_"Then, that means that my son…I can't be happy that there have been deaths, but Light…this proves his innocence, doesn't it, Ryuzaki?"_

Both Aizawa and Matsuda gazed at L expectantly, but he cleared his throat and reached out for a strawberry out of the bowl that sat on the table. "Not exactly," he said quietly. "But…I will most certainly think upon it."

"You hear that, Chief?" Matsuda asked cheerfully. "Doesn't that sound better than Ryuzaki saying that Light is definitely Kira?"

L heard Soichiro release a sigh and bow his head. "_I could only hope so…"_

Matsuda reached out for the button that would connect them to Light's cell. "Time to tell Light!"

L took in a sharp breath and swatted the young man's hand away in alarm. "Matsuda!" he ordered. The loud slap that resounded when their skin made contact caused Matsuda to back away, holding his hand and pouting like an embarrassed child. L took a steadying breath. "We cannot tell Light-kun this news just yet." He proceeded to reach out to the intercom himself and struck the key. "Light-kun," he addressed into the microphone.

Light raised his head wearily, his eyes not meeting the camera. "_Ryuzaki…?"_

"Like I said before, this would be much more painless if you were to simply admit to being Kira," L droned. "With no new criminals being killed, this doesn't do your record any _justice_."

It was then that Light jerked his attention upwards into the camera, glaring at L harshly. "_I'm not going to admit to being something that I'm not, Ryuzaki_!_"_

"You already are, Light-kun. You are claiming that you are innocent." L fiddled with his bottom lip with his thumb and tilted his head in preparation for a biting response.

_"Ryuzaki, this is ridiculous!" _Light bellowed, his voice cracking. _"Look at me, right in my eyes! I don't care what you have to do to see them, but look at me! Do I look like the kind of person to kill and not be aware of it at all?!" _

L pursed his lips in wonder and released the key of the speaker, instead pressing the one that belonged to Misa Amane's holding room. "Misa-san."

The wilting blonde girl against the metal plank made no movement, but opened her mouth to speak softly. "_Yes…? Are you going to let me out now…?"_

"Who is Kira?"

He heard Misa give a weak scoff. "_How am I supposed to know? I don't care who Kira is…he killed the burglar that took my parents away from me. He's a hero…my hero…"_

Hopeless and confused, L released the button and sat back in his chair as he stared blankly straight ahead of him. _It's…it's as if they are completely different people…_

* * *

They had opened the large, spacious window of the apartment once the sun fanned out brilliantly beyond it, and Amelia sat upon the sill with her feet resting on the small balcony. Arwe on the left side of her, she stared out into the golden afternoon, pulling at her earlobe and pondering intensely. She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of spring and exhaling her own frustration. "How long have you been following the case?" she asked her sibling softly.

Arwen stretched out his long legs, his toes reaching the railing, and relaxed them back to their bent position. "Do you recall the broadcast that was made in Kanto a few months back?"

_Oh, far too well…_

Instead of speaking this, Amelia merely nodded wordlessly and cued him to explain on.

"I had been in Kanto that day, walking through town trying to find a certain bookstore," Arwen said, "and the broadcast came on…I couldn't believe what I was hearing." At this, Arwen shook his head slowly, as if still amazed even months later. "I've always had this little…interest in something, Amelia."

Amelia leaned in, interested and concerned. "Do tell."

Arwen stared inquisitively out ahead of him into the city. He had her same bone structure, she could see; soft jawline, pointed, narrow nose, high cheekbones. "I've wanted to meet L since I was fourteen years old."

Amelia felt her stomach flip, but she swallowed and kept her face neutral. "Why?"

Arwen released a light chuckle. "The greatest detective in the world, able to solve more cases than any other human could manage…Russe thinks it's stupid of me, but it's something I've always wanted to do." His shoulders rose in a slow sigh and relaxed when he exhaled heavily. "Which is why I don't belong in this family, Amelia."

Without her realizing it, Amelia had reached out to him and lay a gentle hand on his shoulder, timidly, afraid that he would burn her with wrath out of nowhere like he had before. "It's not stupid of you at all," she reassured. The tone of her voice was alien to her, but at the sight of her pale little brother sitting beside her on the windowsill, staring off into space, it came so natural to her that she did not dare fight it off.

It was the only time that she could ever recall experiencing family.

"No, it kind of is stupid." Arwen shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "High school dropouts don't become masterminds like L, Amelia."

His statement lingered with her and left a bitter taste in her mouth. She turned her head back to him, staring at his profile. She was silent for a few moments, reflecting the words that she was inwardly crafting.

_He needs to be tested…challenged, the same way I was by L…but I can't show him the tape of Light, it would be too much information too soon…plus, that would lead to him finding out that I'm on the case, which definitely can't happen…but if he proves himself to me, maybe I'll consider-_

"Amelia," Arwen addressed softly, pulling her out of her thoughts. He cleared his throat and twiddled with the collar of his shirt idly, staring down at his feet that dangled over the ground. "I, um…I'm sorry.

Amelia's eyes widened at his sudden apology, and she shook her head slowly. "That's silly. You didn't make me come here."

"No," Arwen said, wiping his palms on the thighs of his jeans. "No, I mean…well, years of hearing about you from Mum, trying to find you…and the first thing I do is yell at you when we actually do find you." Arwen uttered a small, nervous laugh. "I just…it's not an everyday thing you come across the sister you only heard stories about under these circumstances, right?"

Amelia stared at him, a quivering collection of tears being swallowed back. Her mind was far too heavy for such words, sending her heart into a waterlogged mess, but she cleared the lump that had formed in her throat and nodded quickly. "It's fine, really," she says tightly.

"I'm still sorry about it."

"None of that."

There was a long silence, Arwen staring intensely down at his shoes, Amelia biting down hard on her bottom lip. _Don't cry…whatever you do, don't. Cry. _

Arwen took a deep breath and turned to look at her. "Either way, you're my family, Amelia. And I'm just…" He seemed to reflect for a moment, bowing his head. "I'm just glad that we found you. That's all."

The tenderness in his voice tugged out the tears that Amelia had been feigning off, and as a salty string of them slipped down her cheek, she reached out and placed her hand on his back. "That's all," she hoarsely repeated.

* * *

"When do you think Lise will be back?"

Aizawa did not bother fighting back the groan that bubbled from his throat and set down his paper on the coffee table, shooting Matsuda a bitter look. "Are you as tired of asking that question as much as I am of hearing it? Jesus…"

Matsuda seemed unphased by the sharp edge to the man's voice and propped his feet up on the arm of the couch, having been lounging on it for the past fifteen minutes. Papers were strewn around him everywhere; resting atop his chest, on the back of the couch, a small pile upon his head that he balanced carefully. "I sure hope she comes back soon," he said dreamily.

"Cut that out," Aizawa grunted out. "You sound like an idiot with that voice, you know."

Matsuda turned his head too abruptly, sending the papers that sat on his hair to flutter down to the floor. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Aizawa proceeded to stand up off the armchair and clasped his hands together, holding them beneath his chin and gazing up longingly at the ceiling. "Oh, I hope Lise comes back! Oh, when is Lise going to come back, Aizawa? Today? Tomorrow? Man, I hope she gets here soon! Hey, when do you think Lise will come back?" He ended his melodramatic impersonation and threw his hands up into the air. "Lise, Lise, Lise! Christ, Matsuda!" He plopped back down on the couch and picked his paper back up, frowning.

"I wasn't…that's not what I was…I was just wondering when-"

He cut him off with a sudden glance over his paper, a revelation hitting him. "Matsuda."

The young man in question cowered into the couch cushion. "What now?"

Aizawa grinned at his fellow officer and slapped his paper down onto the table once more. "You're crazy for her, aren't you? It all makes sense now!" Upon seeing Matsuda's cheeks flush a violent scarlet, he laughed maniacally. "Damn, I bet you really want to punch Ryuzaki's lights out, don't you!"

Matsuda's mouth opened, closed, opened again, stuttering out random syllables in an attempt to speak. Aizawa merely laughed, clutching his gut. "Oh, boy, the look on your face when she gets back here. I'd pay to see that."

As Aizawa strolled away leisurely into the kitchen in search of tea, he relished Matsuda's sudden declaration of, "It's not funny!" with a satisfied chuckle.

* * *

After successfully convincing Watari over the phone to allow her to stay for the night, Amelia sat in the apartment's cramped, book-stuffed kitchen sipping tea. Russe sat opposite of her at the table, watching her oddly with her chin propped up on her fist. Amelia cocked a curious eyebrow over the brim of her teacup. "Yes?"

"You drink your tea funny," Russe said simply, nodding. "Very, very funny."

"How does one drink tea 'funny', Russe?" Amelia asked, her voice flat.

Russe shrugged her shoulders and reached for the spoon that sat in her own tea. "You do a lot of things funny, you just don't know it."

"You're one to talk." Amelia rolled her eyes and took another sip.

Russe snorted and drank her tea from her spoon, russet eyes glinting. "I'm just saying. You're a very strange person."

Amelia did not take the comment to heart and stood up from the table. "And you are a flying twit, Russe. Where's Arwen?"

"Reading, most likely. He's been real into this one English writer, not sure of what his name is, though, but he's been up all night for the past week or so, and I keep telling him not to…"

Amelia blocked out her rambling and made her way into the living room, down the small hallway and into the bedroom. Opening the door slowly, she peeped her head around and saw Arwen sitting beneath the window, tucked away behind a barricade of books. She took a few steps towards him and cleared her throat. "I will most likely be leaving tomorrow," she said softly.

The teenager looked up quickly from his book, meeting her eye with a curious gaze. "Leaving?"

"Yes," Amelia said before the disappointment in his voice could settle in her. "I have certain obligations to take care of…but I should be back sometime-"

"Do you have a job?"

His question caused Amelia to look down at the floor, unsure of how to answer him. She wiped her palms on her sweatpants and nodded. "One could say that."

Arwen looked back to his book with a strange expression on his face, turning a page. "What do you do?"

Amelia pondered his profile while searching for an appropriate response. The pale light from the lamp that sat atop the nightstand glowed onto his fragile features, seemingly porcelain, breakable. She opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again before whispering, "I do what I have to do, Arwen."

A glance of her eyes showed that Arwen was staring at her now, mouth slightly agape. "You're…?" He stood up and emerged from his shack of books.

Amelia shook her head instinctively, shaking off any assumptions her brother would make. "You should get to bed soon. Russe says you've been staying up all night for awhile." The fragile tone her voice had taken on brought a fresh swell of tears to rise behind her eyes, but she pushed them away with a hard swallow. "It's just a suggestion, but I think it would be good for you if-"

She was pulled into an embrace courtesy of Arwen's cautious arms. A careful, tender hug, one that ripped the emotions free from her chest as she desperately held onto the brother she had never known existed.

* * *

Her thoughts were muddled and foggy before she slipped into sleep on the couch, covered with a flimsy white sheet.

_I'm coming back to you…_

_L…_

_Tomorrow…tomorrow I'll…apologize…_

_And I love…_

Unfinished thoughts were swept under the cool tide of slumber, and Amelia willingly swam away with them.

* * *

**ZOMG L AND AMELIA ARE REUNITING NEXT CHAPTER ZOMGZZ.**

**Tehehe. Hope you guys are excited. **

**Reviews are appreciated!**


	28. Warmth

**OH MY GOD, IT IS FINALLY DONE. Praise the gods and goddesses, sing and dance, throw a picnic, take all your clothes off and scream, because it is FINALLY HERE!**

**::tries to catch breath::**

**I cannot even begin to tell you how sorry I am that this took so long to crank out, but I did not die while writing this. Although I had to walk out of the room a few times to collect myself. XD**

**ANYWAY. Yes. This is a lemon in all context of the word. It is not lemonade, it is not an orange, it is not a pomegranate, but a die-hard, unadulterated lemon that nearly cost my entire brain, and I can only pray that I pulled it off! ::fans self with hand::**

**I do not own Death Note, but the lemony lemonosity is all mine, baby.**

* * *

Amelia awoke in the sweaty clinch of white cotton sheets, and for a terrifying moment, had no idea where she was.

The apartment bore such a numbing relation to her old tenement that for a brief, panic-induced second, she believed that the past couple months had been nothing more than a dream, but the sudden flash of memories and short stint of energy reassured her of her residence.

She groaned as she sat up, feeling her hair stick to her bare shoulders and face, sweaty with sleep. Her muscles were surprisingly warm and languid, in spite of the crumpled position she had fallen asleep in, and she stood up from the futon. Her feet met with the cool wooden floor and she stretched her arms high above her head before blearily walking into the kitchen.

She was not all too surprised to see that Russe was wide awake and eating what appeared to be waffles, sitting cross-legged atop the counter. Her sister greeted her with a flamboyant smile. "Hullo, miss!"

Amelia gave her a sleepy wave before noticing that she was still in her yellow T-shirt and baggy jeans from the previous day. "Let me guess," she said, "you didn't sleep last night."

Russe let out a bellowing laugh. "Oh, no, no, no. I don't deal well with the whole sleep thing, not when there are strange people under the roof."

Amelia's jaw dropped for a second before she realized that she should be used to her dotty disposition, and merely sighed. "And yet you tell Arwen not to stay up all night."

"I have a right to. I'm six minutes older than him, you know." Russe finished off her waffles and placed the plate and fork into the sink. "You'd be surprised, though. Arwen actually slept last night."

Amelia looked up at her, taken back. "Did he really?" _Just like I told him to…_

"Yeh, few minutes after you went in and talked to him. I went in to check on him, but he was out like a light." Russe gave a small smile and hopped up off the counter, crossing her arms over her chest. "And look, I didn't kill you like you thought I would."

Amelia could not help but chuckle at that, walking over to the coffeepot and making a fresh supply. "It wouldn't have done you any good to do that."

"Arwen would have had my head for it, too."

Amelia looked over her shoulder at the shaggy-haired girl. Her questioning look did not go unnoticed by her. "He likes you," Russe explained simply. "Have you ever thought you lost your favorite toy as a child, but then you find it underneath your bed or something? It's a lot like that. Makes him happy to know that we found you before Kira did."

Amelia cleared her throat at the ironically dark statement, but said nothing as she turned on the power to the coffee maker. _If they knew that Kira found me a long time ago…or L…_

"Are you going somewhere today?" Russe asked casually.

"You knew?"

Russe laughed again and pulled out a teacup from the cupboard. "No, but now I do." She moved over to the fridge and retrieved a carton of orange juice, set it down on the counter and closed the fridge. "Where're you going?"

"Work," Amelia answered promptly as she played with her earlobe, her back to Russe. "My leave is over as of today."

"I didn't even know you were on one of those," Russe replied. "Why?"

Amelia sighed and got out a mug for her coffee from the cupboard Russe had opened. "Sometimes it's necessary to take a break to keep your head on your shoulders, Russe."

"Shit, you're not pregnant, are you?"

Amelia whipped around to face her, and upon seeing the horrified expression on Russe's nonsensically striking face, burst into loud, unrestrained laughter. "What in all hell's name would make you think that?"

Russe studied her for a moment, pursing her lips, and she came to a conclusion. "You're glowing. That's it. Your face is…wait, you know those porcelain dolls with the pretty dresses and whatnot?" At this, she gave Amelia an expectant look, in which she returned with a nod. "Yeh, you look like one of those. Except minus the whole doll thing."

Amelia gave a sheepish, awkward smile and turned back to the coffeepot to pour the fresh coffee into her mug. _Glowing, huh…not sure how to react to that…_

"Anyway, when are you going?" Russe asked. "I might as well wake up Arwen and tell him."

"Don't worry about it," Amelia protested, "I'll talk to him." She reached for the sugar bowl on the counter and spooned a small amount in, aware that her hand was trembling. Russe caught onto it as well, for she approached her and gave her hand an odd look. "You nervous or something?" her sister asked her.

Amelia hid away her hand by proceeding to tug upon her earlobe. "Why would I be?"

"That's what I'm asking you."

There was a moment of cold silence, in which Amelia tried to craft the right response that would not give anything in regards to her day's plan away, but she merely took a sip of her coffee and waved Russe off with her hand. "Nothing," she breathed out. "I haven't been to work in awhile, that's all."

In all reality, it was very true. The task force had felt like thousands of miles away for the past two weeks, with her only longing for it from a distance, from within a prison with a video camera or sitting upon a windowsill in a hotel. Her battle against Kira had been reduced to a makeshift interrogation, face-to-face with Light himself whilst being on the other side of cold black bars. Her mind had been bubbling with questions, all referring to what the young man had become in such a short amount of time, all the while her mind sorely preoccupied with another conflict.

Not a minute had gone by in which she had not been haunted by L's face. The ghost of his touch had lingered within her joints, each and every muscle, heating her lips and sending her pulse into a racing frenzy, all because of a _memory_.

And now, she would be seeing him again.

_Don't get your hopes up for anything…for all you know, he'll be furious with you for leaving and not want anything to do with you…oh, god, don't think about that, you'll do nothing but worry yourself into a coffin…but what will he say…?_

She trailed away from her thoughts when she remembered that she wished to speak with Arwen before she left. Turning to Russe, she saw that she was eyeing her curiously, prodding into her thought train with her startling eyes. "I'll be right back. Be polite and don't plot my murder while I'm gone, please."

"Oh, why not?" Russe whined. "Not even poisoning your coffee?"

"Or attacking me while my back is to you," Amelia quipped as she exited the kitchen. She flashed Russe a smile over her shoulder, turned back around and headed for the twins' bedroom.

Either she was losing her mind, or there was indeed music, the soft sounds of a piano, coming from behind the door. As she opened it slowly, she saw that Arwen sat against the wall, his legs crossed, with a keyboard resting atop his thighs. His brown hair was disheveled from sleep, almost entirely covering his eyes, and his head was bowed as he played a slow, peaceful melody on the keyboard.

There were no sheets of music before him. Just empty space, and Amelia, whom stood in the doorway in awe.

"I didn't know you could play," she said softly.

Her words caused Arwen to smile lightly, not raising his head. "I didn't either. I just found this thing in the closet and plugged it in and…yeh. Learn something new every day, I suppose." He gives her a shy shrug of his shoulders, his eyes now on her as he continues to play.

Amelia felt her mouth gape open at the news. _But he sounds so trained…I've never heard of anyone being able to pick up something so quickly…is it possible that he's a…?_

She cleared her throat and returned to her reason behind coming in to see him. "My ride is on his way here," she informed him.

The tousled-haired boy's eyes widened, but quickly shrank back down as he nodded. "I know," he said softly.

Amelia reached up to her earlobe and gave it a calming tug, twisting it and closing her eyes. "I'd stay longer if I could, Arwen. Truly, I would."

Arwen looked up at her but quickly turned his head away. "You don't have to apologize," he said, his voice nearly inaudible.

Amelia looked down at the floor and smiled to herself. "Just as I had told you yesterday when you apologized to me."

The boy gave a small laugh beneath his breath. "Maybe it's something we both need to work on, then?"

Amelia was just about to respond when a small beeping came from the pocket of her sweatpants. She cleared her throat awkwardly and pulled out her cell phone, seeing an alert of a new message. _Watari…_

"I guess your ride is here, isn't it?" Arwen asked quietly. He continued playing the keyboard with an astonishing smoothness, a mournful look in his dark eyes.

Amelia gave him a small nod, preparing to turn around before the tears returned. _It'll only hurt that much more when you leave…make it quick, don't linger too long before-_

But before she knew it, she was kneeling down in front of her little brother, embracing him desperately. She felt Arwen timidly place his arms around her as well, adding to her emotional collapse just enough for her to finally cry into his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she choked out into his shirt. "I…I know we need to stop saying that so much, b-but if I had just known sooner, I would have-"

"Don't," Arwen said, his voice equally strained. "We found you now. That's good enough for Russe and I." He lightly pulled back from her embrace and Amelia saw that his eyes shone with welling tears that he concealed by bowing his head. "We just want to protect the only real family that we have left, Amelia," he whispered.

Amelia wiped away her tears with a feverish fervor and nodded, afraid to speak again in fear of crashing. She felt Arwen place a hand on her shoulder, so softly that it almost felt as though it belonged to a ghost. "We're not going to lose you. Our big sister. I'm not going to let that happen again, Amelia." When his fragile voice cracked, Amelia pulled him to her again, allowing him to cry just as she had.

_And I won't either, Arwen…I promise._

* * *

The departure from Russe was of a completely different nature as Amelia stood before the door, her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Well," Russe said, eating an apple in the kitchen, "I don't do sentiment. Just letting you know before you ride off into the sunset." A look of curiosity glittered in her eye. "Or late morning, whatever you want to call it."

Amelia could not help but chuckle as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I figured as much. And the idea of a sentimental Russe is unnerving, to say the least."

"Arwen's better at that than I am," the brunette responded with a shrug. A small smile came about her lips and she shoulders bobbed with a laugh. "Always the emotional one of us two anyway. Never bothered me a bit, though. I don't like emotions all too much."

"They have their moments." Amelia sighed and leaned against the door, looking at Russe with the very sentiment that the girl detested so much. "Look after your brother until I see you two again, alright?"

Russe rolled her eyes. "I was actually planning on roasting him over a fire and feeding him to that homeless guy down the block." She chuckled, shaking her head. "Of _course_ I look after the boy, Amelia. I've done that for how long now?"

"I know," Amelia said quickly. "It's instinct for me to say it, I suppose. He's…fragile, one could say."

Russe took another bite of her apple, flicking a choppy strand of hair out of her eyes. "He wouldn't be Arwen Lasswell if he wasn't."

Neither spoke for a few moments, with Amelia studying her sister vaguely, and Russe disposing of her apple in the trash bin. The tall girl strolled over to her with her hands clasped behind her head. "Look, just remember that you still have our number and whatnot, so if you just…I don't know, give us a ring every now and then." Russe's eyes glowed with what could be called softness, but she quickly shook it off and grinned. "Just don't be a stranger, yeh?"

"I don't think I could do that now even if I tried, Russe," Amelia said softly, the image of Arwen's sad eyes returning to her memory. The boy sitting in front of a keyboard for the first time. His dream of being like the detective he admired so much. Their conjoined issue with awkward apologies.

"Well, then," Russe said with finality, "might as well go see your ride now before I do the unthinkable and get sentimental. How nauseous."

Amelia turned and opened the door, pausing before making another move. "I don't mind you so much, Russe," she said with wonder. "You're still a flying twit, though."

"And you're a paranoid lunatic," Russe said dryly. "But maybe I can live with that without trying to kill you after all." At this, she rumpled her hand through Amelia's frizzy hair and snorted out a laugh. "Now get the hell out of here. Your ride is probably getting pissed waiting."

Amelia laughed sarcastically and exited the apartment, making her way down the hall slowly. "Like I said, watch after Arwen. I'll know if you don't."

"Yeh, yeh, I got it," Russe called to her from the door.

Amelia smiled to herself as she came to the stairs, flitting down them and out the lobby door into the bright sun of morning.

* * *

It was inevitable. There was no skillful coverup, no witty banter or calm exterior that L could have prepared when Matsuda spoke the three words that sent a shockwave up his spine.

"Lise, you're back!"

His hands, which had been in the middle of typing, froze atop his keyboard and stiffened, pale fingers trembling. He could have scolded himself for the ridiculous reaction to her alias, but chose to ignore the mental kick and curled his toes into the upholstery of his chair.

_Don't turn around yet._

While Matsuda chirped excitedly to the girl, something about how "it's been so boring around here without you, Lise", L gritted his teeth and tried to breathe calmly so as to not give himself away. Inhale. Shaking. Exhale. _Don't turn around._

"Good to have you back, Lise," Aizawa said somberly, to which Amelia responded quietly to with something makeshift and awkward. A softly muttered thanks, a few sounds of acknowledgment to Matsuda, whose words flew off his tongue quicker than L could hear.

His hands were still paralyzed in the air. With a grimace, he straightened out his fingers and curled them back in to his palms, trying to contain their trembling.

_You are the only person that has this effect on me…you should feel accomplished…_

"Ryuzaki, aren't you going to come say hi to Lise?"

_Dammit, Matsuda…_

L inhaled a mouthful of air and stood up on wobbly legs out of his chair, turning around with his eyes to the floor. _Say something. _

When the room went silent for an uncomfortable stretch of seconds, Aizawa cleared his throat to break the tension. "Well, uh, Matsuda and I going to make some coffee. We'll leave you two alone, right, Matsuda?"

Matsuda noticeably pouted and gave Aizawa a confused look. "But I wanted to talk to Lise for a little-"

"God dammit, Matsuda, _coffee_," Aizawa said through his teeth, pulling the young officer along until they were in the kitchen and closed the door behind them.

And the silence returned in a bitter chill, looming over L and Amelia's heads and freezing them of intelligent words and thoughts. L stared at the floor with wide eyes, as if it caused him a great offense, and he heard Amelia release a shaky sigh.

"Can't you just look at me?"

Her voice was so soft that for a moment, L was sure that the woman in the room was a stranger, not the sharp-tongued Amelia that he had been expecting. A glance upwards told him different.

It was most certainly still her, all untamed hair and cobalt eyes. While she seemed a tad paler, perhaps thinner as well, and the tired look in her eyes had expanded to the rest of her face, this was Amelia Lasswell, her duffel bag slung over her stiff shoulders. Her posture was oddly straight, as if trying to hold herself up with all the remaining energy in her body, but the tension all lied in her lips; they were pursed so tightly that they were white around the corners, a hard little knot of a mouth. Sweatpants, T-shirt sagging down one bare shoulder, grass-stained sneakers that she had not bothered to tie.

But aside from all of this, her eyes were what gave everything away entirely.

They were so fixed on his, yet lingered with a guilt that L did not know she was capable of. He watched as she reached up to her hair and tucked a piece behind her ear, so slowly, as if he would leap out and attack her. Just like his had been, her hands were trembling, but she hid them behind her back once she saw that he noticed.

_Are you afraid of me…?_

But L did not move. He stared at her, head tilted, hands in pockets, and simply waited for another sign that this was still the woman he loved.

* * *

Amelia stared down at the floor and awaited a demand for an explanation.

Maybe he would yell at her. Perhaps he would walk away without a word and leave her to stand by the door alone. The possibility of never getting back to their milestone point was overwhelmingly, unbearably _real_ as she stood before him, scarcely breathing.

She clenched her fists, keeping her head bowed. Too much…too much waiting, feeling, fear…

He was making no advancements toward her. Then again, she was not moving towards him either, but he had not walked out on her. He had not told her that he was leaving, not informing her on when he would be back. He had not done what she was so freshly ashamed of; he had no reason to approach her.

Amelia thought upon the chance that she would prefer him to be hollering at her; she would at least have a heated response to throw back at him in her defense. They would argue and debate and get back to their passionate tension that she had been so familiar with, and all would be back to normal once more. Not this…silence. Cold, quivering silence that was feasting on her will to remain in one piece.

He was still not speaking. _Silence. _The very reminder of how much she depended on him to speak sent a hot rush of rage through her, and she took a step back, shooting her attention up to him, chest blazing.

_Don't you get it?_

"L," she addressed, voice wavering.

There was no rebuttal, only eyes. Dark eyes digging into cold blue, but so incredibly blank that the furious retort was stolen from her lips within the first second it came to her. The life that had been squeezed from every pore within her body over the past two weeks was restored painfully, and she could have screamed at the agony of finally _feeling_ again.

_You're too far away. _

"Why are you…?"

Another furious reminder of how useless she became when his eyes fell upon her: forgetting her words. Like a badly rehearsed monologue, she stood center stage, panic stricken, with L as her single audience member.

Was he breathing harder? She could see L's chest heaving slightly heavier than before, his eyes glazed over, lips parted, but he did not move. His bare feet were rooted to the floor and her unfinished sentence was ignored.

Thus striking the third chord of rage within her.

"L," she said, gaining strength in her voice and clenching her fists tighter. "I…"

She could feel the breakage beginning first in her hands, in which trembled within their painful knots. Then it moved up her arms, aching in her shoulders, squeezing through her ribs and finally…there it was. In her heart, the very pain that she had denied, brought to life again at the sight of this maddening man.

_You just don't get it!_

Amelia stormed up to him in hopes of demanding her own explanation out of him, but her mind was as blank as the stare he gave her. She stopped directly in front of him, her mouth gaping open and breathing heavily at her mental strain weighing down on her.

_Say something!_

She had forgotten how much she depended on those eyes, shadowed and heavy upon her, nor had she realized how depleted her energy had been when she was away from him. For now, a mere foot away from him in a wordless, shaken mess, the fire had returned to her blood and swept through the thin walls of her veins, mounting in her heart.

_Say something…please…_

Her eyes involuntarily fluttered down to the soft bow of his lips. "C-can't you just…"

She felt her voice fail her when his brow furrowed slightly, leaning in to her with a curious look on his face. "You passed out," he noted quietly.

At first, Amelia had not the faintest idea as to what he meant, but the recollection of her collapse that previous week struck her memory. But the response she had planned in her head died out when he slowly reached out to her face and, as if the first time he had ever touched her, grazed his fingertip along the curve of her jaw. "I…y-yes, but…"

L bit upon his bottom lip and tilted his head to the side more, awry strands of hair fanning over his jaw. He turned his eyes to the ground as his touch upon her face faded.

_Don't leave me now…not after all of this…_

Amelia stood, rooted to the floor, and let her eyelids fall closed. Perhaps the rejection would not sting as much if she could not see him; her theory was poorly developed and made her stomach turn at the thought.

But his touch returned. A soft breath and a warm palm against her cheek, and L finally whispered, "Then perhaps you should stay here awhile, just to be on the safe side."

Amelia's eyes opened and she slowly lifted her gaze to meet his, a soft utterance of shock escaping her lips.

_You still…you still want me here…after all of this, after everything we've been through…you somehow still want me with you…L, you-_

Like a flash, quicker than either could plan, their world turned into a hot blur of lips and breath as the two pressed together, their kiss a trembling relief to longings wished to be brought to life. She clutched at his forearm, feeling her knees weaken and threaten to give out, but L supported her wavering body when he caught her, deepening the kiss with an intensity that did nothing for her limp legs but cause them to buckle in defeat. His arms held her up, and she crushed her chest against his as she seized his shirt in her fists just to be closer, warmer, unstably stable. A sound that she could not identify freed itself from her throat as he held her tighter against his lean chest, ravaging her mouth clumsily, but with such a hunger that Amelia could only counterattack with clumsier, breathier kisses.

Another near-collapse later, L cupped her face gently and disconnected their frantic kiss. He leaned in to her ear, breathing heavily. "I would never forgive myself if I made love to you with a possible audience, Amelia," he whispered heatedly against her neck.

Amelia's stomach flipped and fizzled, her entire body now weak as she let her hands rest upon his chest. "Y-yes," she uttered. Even still, she lost against her diminished patience and pulled him to her again to feel their lips collide dizzily, her energy spike, the life burst back through her system. Without warning, she felt him guide her to the wall, her back meeting the surface, and he wove his fingers through her hers and pinned them by the sides of her head. The kiss deepened again, as did the warm flush of arousal in the pit of her stoach when his lips swept against hers. Hungry and scalding, so unbearably _hot_, feverish, possessive.

He tore his mouth away from hers, leaving her trapped and breathing heavily against the wall. A shiver ripped through her when his mouth grazed against the sensitive skin of her neck, his breath that was so normally calm and steady now ragged and heated. Amelia squirmed her flushed, pulsing body against him when his hands released hers and trailed up her arms, along her shoulders and into her frazzled hair. She fought to catch her breath before whispering, "L…c-could you…"

L made a small questioning sound in the back of his throat, his lips hovering dangerously over her pulse. His arms trembled in their hold of her quaking body; two shivering beings unsure of where to go next in their clumsy experimentations with the other's patience.

Amelia took a few more heaving breaths before closing her eyes. Her hands gripped his shoulders and pulled him closer still.

_This is everything…_

"Could you…L…I…"

Goodness, she was delirious, her tongue spinning breathy murmurs of nonsense that not even she could understand. The intimate core between her legs, just below where their hips were pressed together, was throbbing and tightening like a charged spring, and surely there was only so much she could take before she melted and lost it entirely. She felt L's warm mouth tremble over her begging skin, anxious to touch just as she was burning to feel, as she fought with herself to remain standing.

_This is absolutely everything…_

This longing would be the death of her.

_You…you are…_

But she would gladly, unquestionably, without hesitation _die_ for it.

_Everything._

With the last quivering pinpoint of tolerance she had left, Amelia wearily brushed her lips against his ear and whispered, "T-take me."

Like a smoldering wind lifting her away, L hiked her legs up around his waist and fixed his lips on hers, dragging out a whimper from her throat. L, securing her with his grip of her hips, maladroitly carried her away from the wall and fed Amelia's ravonous arousal with each dip of his lips, every digging of his fingertips into her skin. Her hold of him became more fierce, desperate for more heat, and she clutched his hair just to fuse their kiss closer, as firm and as warm as anything could possibly be. A shared gasp bubbled behind their lips when she tightened her legs around him and forced his hardened need that strained against his jeans to press against the flimsy material of her sweatpants.

The stumbling journey to the bedroom relaxed and settled once the duo blindly entered, with L leaning against the door to close it. Their kiss of fever paused, and Amelia regained her lightheaded footing only to cautiously rest her forehead on his chest.

Their world slowed down. Heartbeats blended and calmed. Dark eyes coaxed blue ones to look up, up at the familiar, arousal-flushed face she had pined for so greatly. Her timid palms reached up to him as words, uncertain apologies, amused themselves by abandoning her mind completely.

A soft wonder came about the charcoal of L's eyes. "I…I find that I am unsure as to what to do now," he noted thoughtfully.

Amelia closed her eyes and smiled, her cheek laying upon his panting chest. "That makes two of us."

"I've never done this."

"Likewise," Amelia whispered. She took advantage of their closeness and breathed in his scent; light, fresh, purely man without the insufferable additives of cologne.

L cupped her face again and softly urged her to look up at him. The look in his eyes numbed her of all cognitive thought and she found herself delightfully wordless yet again. The life in his quiet gaze, so bright and inquisitive and gentle, sent another weakening spasm down her spine and through her knees. Just before they nearly betrayed her body again, L picked her up and claimed her lips softly with his own as he carefully carried her to the bed. Amelia shivered as he broke the kiss with a shy, lingering brush of his lips and felt her back meet the cool, white sheets. She stared up at him, L standing awkwardly by the bedside, and took a steadying breath to ease her swollen nerves. "Are you alright?" she asked quietly.

L swallowed hard and scanned his eyes over her slowly. He reached up to rest his thumb between his lips, in which were a lively red from their hungry contact. "It is not often that I am nervous, Amelia," he explained. He cleared his throat when his eyes met hers. "Although you've had that sort of…frustrating effect on me for quite some time."

Amelia, completely in awe at this side of him, bit upon her bottom lip and watched him kneel down by the bed and swallow again. "But I can't recall it ever being this strong before," he said. "It's…unnerving."

"I know," Amelia whispered. In fact, she _did_ know, and fully grasped what he was implying; the raw, tapped need for him had never felt so extreme in all of her time of desiring him. Unnerving was the most mild manner of putting it to words, for she was undeniably _frightened_ at her own need for his touch. She twisted the hem of her T-shirt in her fingers, but saw that he was reaching to lay his hand atop hers. Her grip of her shirt loosened and relaxed, as did her wired eyelids that quickly grew half-mast over her eyes.

So very sheepishly, L joined her in the bed, supporting himself above her with his elbows. Amelia felt her breath catch when L dipped his head down to her chest. He glanced up at her, a wordless asking for permission, and Amelia gave him a small, nervous nod before laying back.

It took her a moment to realize that the tickling along her abdomen was him lifting up her shirt, and the muscles of her stomach tightened and coiled when L carefully dipped lower and dragged his lips along the pale expanse of skin. Rising up, light kisses, so soft that they were almost imaginary, and she drunkenly raised her arms for him to remove her shirt over her head.

Another soft glance down at her, and she allowed him to do as he wished.

His fingers shakily made their way to the small clasp of her bra, flicking it free with some effort. With tender, burning grey eyes heavy above her, Amelia felt her breathing pick up once he inched the thin straps down her arms, shivering when the article was gone from her blushing chest.

Bare before him at last. The fire in her ribcage overwhelmed the cool exposure of her breasts, yet she trembled at the sight of L drinking her in, mouth slightly agape and grey irises bright and pondering. She imagined him taking in every detail of the newly exposed skin, carving it into his memory for further analysis, studying each curve and slope with an intense concentration.

When the quiet stillness became unbearable, Amelia inhaled with uncertainty and, with a virginal refinement, arched her back an inch upwards to him. Just as she did so, L lowered his dark head and let his lips glaze over one pale breast, earning a shocked gasp from Amelia. Her back instinctively arched higher when L experimentally wrapped his lips around the sensitive peak and lapped at it once with the very tip of his tongue.

The pleasure at the divine assault was so fresh and unexplored that something wretchedly exquisite made its way past her mouth; a whimper, as soft and silken as L's hair as he delved lower, kissing upon her stomach until his fingers latched upon the waistband of her sweatpants.

A mere minute into their intimacy and her breath was already stolen in its youth.

L's soft lips rest upon Amelia's stomach, and after a few tense moments, Amelia lay her hands atop his and assisted in sliding down the unnecessary garment until her legs were bare.

He felt too far away, and the impatience was rising at an alarming rate in Amelia's chest; she needed his eyes, his lips, entirely atop her in order to calm yet ignite the swelling longing. With a clammy hand, she swept it through his hair and slid her body down as that she was beneath him again. Blindly reaching up to him, she was quickly gratified with another trembling kiss, her hips pressing up against his with a desperation she had been slapping away for far too long.

The careful air to their handling was rapidly morphed into breathless, open kisses, hands flitting and graspig, lungs fit to burst with shallow air that was spent as quickly as it was purchased. His name, the single smoking syllable, breathed past her lips, as burning as the desire in her chest that heaved up like a grand tide. Amelia slipped her hands beneath his shirt and felt warm, glorious skin; firm stomach, lightly defined chest, the round shoulders that she raked her nails across before reaching back down to the shirt.

_This is all too real…_

The shirt gone, L's dark hair askew, and Amelia was once again stolen away with the rapture of his lips, fingertips, the shared pounding of their heartbeats.

_But this is all you've been waiting for…_

L broke the kiss and stared down at Amelia, whose eyes were now screwed shut at the itching need in her heart. He placed his warm hand on her face, wordlessly aiding her in looking back at him.

Beautiful. Pale, bright and raven black all at the same time raining down on her with such an overwhelming force that Amelia did not fight back pushing her hips up into his, which earned a shaky exhale from his lips. "Amelia," he whispered huskily, "I…"

His eyelids fell closed, as if trying to choose the logical way of explaining something, but Amelia took the opportunity to catch her rapid breath. "Yes?" she whispered. She gently brushed away a strand of hair from his face, its dark, cool silk relieving against her fingers.

L slowly turned his head away from her, closing his eyes tighter. The hand that held her hip trembled, relaxed, but squeezed it again when he took a long breath. "If you wish to stop…it would be best for you to tell me now," he breathed out," for I don't believe that I will be able to…at this rate if we go on."

Amelia felt her chest swell with a shallow breath. He was asking her if she wished to stop…could it even be possible to do so? With this white hot yearning rising and rising, pushing its way up to the surface of her now gleaming skin, could she even consider such a thing?

_"I don't think I will be able to…"_

Even now, after so long of having confirmed it, it was almost as though she had been reintroduced to love and fallen into it twice as hard as she had formerly believed. It had never faded away, in spite of their time apart, instead only building itself in her entire being at such an exponential rate, doubling over and over again until she was wary of how much she could handle.

But she could take so much more of this feeling, and she would finally allow herself to. She knew with one more second of gazing up at his trepid face.

"Good," she whispered, "because I don't want you to stop."

* * *

"You think it's safe to go back out there?"

Aizawa watched as Matsuda lifted his head from his coffee cup, having been sullenly stirring it for the past ten minutes. "Oh, uh…" Matsuda shrugged his shoulders and looked back down sadly. "I don't really know, Aizawa, he replied quietly.

Aizawa immediately furrowed his brow and took a step back. Quietly? No stupid answers? Was such a description even possible for a man like Matsuda?

"Hey," he said, nudging the younger man in the side, "cut that out. Since when have you been the moody one around here?"

Matsuda released a small sigh and drank the small portion of coffee on his spoon. "Well, it's just that-"

"Aren't you supposed to be bouncing off the walls now that Lise is back?"

At Aizawa's question, Matsuda looked up quickly with wide eyes. A nervous smile tinged his lips, paired with a twitter of a laugh. "Oh course I'm happy she's back! It's great, really great!" he blurted out. His smile, however, faded and his slender shoulders slumped down. "But…but sometimes I kind of wish that I could, you know, trade places with Ryuzaki, even for just five minutes, just to know what it's like. Do you know what I mean?"

The young man either spoke in fragments or rambled, never anything in between, Aizawa noted. He gave a sigh and set his coffee down on the table before standing up. When he raised his hand, he saw Matsuda flinch, as if expecting an agitated nudge, but he gave the officer a hearty slap on the back. "We've all been there, Matsuda," he said tiredly. "Maybe not with L and some snappy English chick, but we've all been where you are right now. Everyone knows it's not fun, believe me."

Matsuda looked up at Aizawa and gave him a wide, toothy grin. "I can't imagine you liking a girl, Aizawa," he said cheerfully. "You're so serious all the time."

Aizawa walked away from the officer and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. It was no surprise that Matsuda could not fathom the idea; when was the last time he arrived at headquarters in a good mood, anyway? Sleeping next to Eriko's pale body on opposite sides of the bed, their backs to the other, distant and hushed; it was all so routine, to be expected each time he came home well after midnight after another dull day of research. There would be remorse in her voice when she would tell him she loved him, in which grew less and less frequent. Yumi's round face painted over with confusion, sadness as she asked her daddy when he would be home again.

And Shuichi Aizawa, husband, father and task force member, would bow his head and not even know the answer himself.

As much as he despised Ryuzaki's stubborn, uppity mannerisms and Lise's tart acidity, when Aizawa turned away and thought upon how he could have saved his own love, he found himself closing his eyes and begging for the two to make it.

* * *

It had grown so incredibly stifling hot that, in the still very much alive paranoid corner of Amelia's brain, she briefly wondered if she was diseased, dying of fever beneath his pale, jeaned man, and that she would perish before they could even fully indulge.

L was kissing the base of her throat with such an astonishing tenderness, his inexperience only leaking through when he would have to pull away and close his eyes for a second. His fingers wove themselves into her messy hair as his kiss teased up the side of her jaw, warm breath and soft strands of hair whispering along her glowing skin. Amelia lay limp beneath him, trying to keep her breathing under control, but the mind-numbing sensation of her chest pressed against his and his lips feasting upon skin that had been untouched for so long…it was, without question, impossible.

_You're so…this is…god, I can't even…_

She gave up on trying to form thoughts when he lay his kiss on her gaping mouth. One hand that held her head let go and wandered down to her heaving chest, then to his jeans.

"Amelia," he hoarsely addressed into her ear, "would it be at all possible for you to-"

"Y-yes," she uttered, catching on to his dilemma with a glance downwards.

His hand was trembling, unable to unbutton his jeans smoothly. Amelia reached down for him and clumsily released the button, their hands colliding when both dove for the zipper, but Amelia reached it before he could and yanked it down. "These are…bloody infuriating," she said through her teeth.

Their hands attacked the waistline of his jeans in a clash of eagerness and frustration. "Even more so for the person trying to get out of them, Amelia," L said with a huff of a laugh.

The two fought the jeans down his slender hips until they were at his ankles, exposing the grey boxers that tented oddly in the front. Amelia felt a steaming blush show itself in her cheeks, giving her thoughts away, at the surreal sight of the man barely shielded before her for the first time.

Both L and Amelia paused, his eyes on her face, her eyes on his hips. Her breath came in shallow inhales, shaking exhales, and she lay her hands upon his chest for support. She watched tensely as he reached for her underwear and began slowly pulling them down. She was far too heated to do it herself; the added rush of him removing them for her only chipped away more of her ebbing patience, and she lifted her bottom to aid him in taking them off.

Entirely bare…the feeling was not as embarrassing as she had imagined it to be. In fact, as he gaped down at her naked form, she reveled in the feeling of being completely _free_, stripped of offending materials that dragged her down and covered up what L was now burning into his memory. "Let me just…look at you," he whispered weakly as he suspended himself above her.

Amelia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, in through her nose and out through her kiss-swollen lips. Even with eyes shut, she could _feel_ his gaze, sense it gliding up her chest, down her stomach, between her legs, up at her face and all back down again.

She was speechless at the feeling of being beautiful in his presense. She had never thought that she, of all people, could feel such a thing.

But all present thoughts and possible thoughts to be formed later crashed down upon her when he _touched her._

It was a warm, almost painfully rapturous feeling when his fingers grazed along her wet center, and she reacted with a sharp gasp, a toss of her head, muttering something unintelligable beneath her breath. Apparently getting the reaction that L wished out of her, he rubbed slightly harder against her sleek femininity with the pads of his fingers, tearing out yet another ragged huff of breath from her throat. Never in all of her years had she felt something so…she could not even remotely describe it, or even begin to. Besides that, she did not _want_ to; for once, she just wanted to feel without thinking, worrying, calculating _anything_, instead just giving in to her heightened sense of touch with a trembling pleasure that could not be put to words.

He was testing her, she knew that. With each earnest stroke against what had been dormant for so long, she grew closer and closer to something she had never had the opportunity to feel. But she did not fight it, instead shyly spreading her legs wider and pushing herself onto his touch. She could not open her eyes, in fear of pushing herself over the edge with his smoldering, observant gaze and the rapture being over far too soon, but she was already growing alarmingly close to whatever lay ahead, when her body boiled over with this feeling and all control was lost.

Just as she felt a thematic swelling in the pit of her stomach, her breath coming in short, flushed bursts at the light circles he made with his fingertips, his touch was gone from her hot need. Amelia opened her eyes and saw that he was biting upon his bottom lip roughly, reaching for the white sheet and pulling it over them, hiding them away beneath the white cotton.

Eyes met.

The surge was returning. The raw, boiling love that she needed to release before breathing him back in for more of it.

"L," she whispered, "b-before anything happens, I…I need to hear you s-say it." She took a quivering breath, filling her lungs with that same sensation. "I-it's been too long…since I've heard you…"

She knew that she would not have to elaborate, for L's face softened and tilted down closer to hers. "We both once agreed that if we could have chosen against this, we would have avoided it. Do you remember?"

His hands were roaming down to his boxers, and Amelia, spellbound, followed them with her own. "I do," she whispered.

"But now," he began breathily, inching down his boxers along his thighs with Amelia's assistance, "I find that I have changed my mind." His eyes were fixed on her face, flitting from her gaze to her pouted lips, and he sharply exhaled when his own arousal was freed from the confinements of his boxers. "Because as terribly frustrating as you can be, even right now, I can't seem to ignore you."

They were completely exposed by now, two pale, slender bodies tucked away beneath soft white sheets. Amelia took a shuddering breath. _This is it…_

He held onto her hips with both hands, looking into her eyes with an intensity that sent a surge directly through Amelia's heart, shooting down to the warm center between her legs. "I've grown tired of trying to convince both you and I that this will pass in time," he said, his voice feverish and gruff. "Because, no matter what either of us say or do, I can't fight the fact that…"

Amelia held onto his shoulders, trembling violently with the magma-hot desire now in full bloom within her. L's grip tightened on her hips, his lips now resting against her ear.

_"_I can't fight the fact that _I love you._"

And with a swift push, they were one.

She could not help it. She had no desire to help it. But the second that he pushed himself inside of her, hot and rigid and pulsating, the impact of both the pain and relief at finally feeling him was so incredible that she threw her head back, releasing a most unplanned, gutteral _something _from her stunned throat. A yelp, a scream, a whimper, Amelia could not even name it, for it exploded out of her mouth with such force that her mind was reeling from the seconds that followed it.

L was completely still, his entire body stiff and frozen, and once the delirious fog lifted from Amelia's senses, she could hear that he was taking slow, heavy breaths, trembling atop her. His hands left her hips and shakily held himself up, touching her face. Amelia, dumbfounded by the overwhelming feeling of being so filled by him, winced when he shifted his weight inside her.

But she could endure the pain. She had only dreamed of being so close to him, so in tune with each breath he took, each inch of his skin, and it was finally happening in a rush of exploration and longing.

"I'm hurting you," he finally said against her neck, wearily, strained with trying to control himself.

Amelia stared up at the ceiling, eyes wired open in the shock of this strange new sensation, but she swallowed hard and whispered, "J-just move." She took a few more quick, panting breaths and dug her nails into his shoulders, urging him. "I want to feel it."

He acknowledged her request and carefully, so very tenderly, dragged his length out and pushed back in halfway, shivering and gritting his teeth. Amelia winced again, trying to accommodate his size, but squirmed and exhaled slowly through her nose. L lifted his head from her shoulder, looking at her with lidded, concerned eyes. "Amelia," he said quietly, "if this is too much-"

"Move again," she instructed breathily. She could not turn back now, not after being so awakened by this indescribable mixture of both pain and pleasure given by the man she loved.

L gazed down at her for a moment before wrapping his arms around her and kissing her lips softly, coaxing them open for him to gently explore with the tip of his tongue, teasing hers with a blossoming marvel. Amelia felt her senses sink into his kiss and a welcoming bout of wet warmth from where their bodies met, and shuddered when he pulled out again, only to glide back into her tight well with less struggle. This time, Amelia found that the warm arousal overruled the virginal pain, and she allowed her eyelids to close as she leaned up to sink deeper into his kiss.

"Is this better?" he murmured against her mouth after breaking the kiss for a moment. Amelia responded with a timid push of her hips when he repeated the careful movement, feeling him press deeper into her at her motion. A soft gasp resounded from his throat, his dark eyes squeezing shut, and Amelia felt another bout of warmth from between her legs at the debauched sight of him. Pink-tinted cheeks, black locks of hair hanging lazily over his face, his lips forming a gentle circle-shaped symbol of a wordless sort of pleasure that neither wished to cheapen by rushing into. _Beautiful_ in such an unspeakable fashion, neither conventional nor safe in any way, but Amelia, nonetheless, was enraptured by him more than she ever had been before.

She was so caught up in the splendid sight of him that she did not realize the pain had eroded from his movements, in which remained slow and searching. It had been replaced with a strange, tugging sort of pleasure that came with each push back into her. He was still being cautious, not filling her completely with his length, but Amelia's grimaces of discomfort quickly matured into stunned, wide-eyed gasps as she clutched onto him. He rest his head in the croof of her shoulder again, lips brushing up against her racing pulse with each motion, and Amelia encouraged him with a bewildered moan that crept its way out of her mouth when she lifted her legs a fraction.

She could test her limits out as well. She awaited his next soft thrust, heard the endearing sound of his shuddering breath, and raised her legs higher, bent at the knee. Her gasp grew stronger when he returned the push back into her warmth, the subtle change in position exactly what she needed to coax herself, and she wrapped her legs up around his slender waist.

He was so _warm_, and she found herself keen to guide him deeper into her just to feel that undeniable masculinity that was filling her, hard and breathtaking.

She needed more, so much more that it blew her away to even fathom what she needed from him. _Heat_. This shuddering pressure. The hot, open-mouthed kisses he stamped along her jawline, her neck and chest, as if seeing which would send her flailing over the edge.

Another surge attacked her heart at full force, and Amelia tightened her legs around him, pulling his quaking body closer to hers and feeling her jaw go agape. His eyes were still skewered shut, and she knew that his battle in controlling himself with her was growing more and more difficult with each thrust. Each was so slow, vigilant, trying not to push too deep even though her body was begging for it, and a glance at his lips showed that he was biting on his lower one in order to fight back the bubbling sounds that Amelia knew were desperate to vocalize themselves.

And she wanted them to, more than anything. She wanted him to wave off his need for calm, control and balance, and instead fuse it with the unbridled passion that was mounting in each of them, apparent with L's battle to remain staid in the middle of their heat.

"L," she exhaled into his shoulder. Her ankles were now crossed over the other, her legs pressed impossibly close into his back, but it was still not enough. "_H-harder._"

She seemed to have taken him off guard with her utterance, for he looked at her with a soft question in his eyes. _Are you sure?_ was what she knew he would ask her, had he not been so breathless, but she would not have paid the question any mind.

She knew what she wanted. She wanted him, L, in all of his unleashed glory, finally taking what had always been his from the very start.

And he gave in to her wish.

With a firm thrust, he sank himself fully into her hot core and let loose a breathy groan in the back of his throat. Amelia, struck with another pang of both pain and ecstasy, lifted her head and allowed it to rest in the slope of his damp neck, inhaling his scent again and awaiting the next tide of contact. His shoulders were trembling, breath stolen, but his lips lay on her pulse again, as if trying to sense her heartbeat through his kiss. Another soft groan from him when he pulled out, eased back in entirely, another hot rush from between Amelia's legs at the divine feeling of her inner muscles pulling him in.

Without thinking, Amelia whispered his name, allowing it to breathe past her swollen lips when he suddenly grabbed her hips. He was tilting them upwards slightly with an intense concentration on his face, inquiringly, as if a revelation had hit him.

And one had, one of the most brilliant ones of his lifetime, when he delved deep into her and struck a hot collection of fizzling, flaming nerves deep within her. Amelia snapped her back into a high arch, releasing a cry that would have humiliated her had she not been so inebriated by their intimacy, her eyes round and disbelieving at whatever had just occurred. L met her eyes, a triumphant gleam settling in his dark irises and flushed face, before serving her another impossibly deep push of his hips.

Oh, god, _glorious._

Her body reacted once more with a violent spasm, the most desperate of whimpers cracking from her throat, and Amelia hiked her legs higher up his waist in order to have him press harder against whatever was rendering her speechless. She did not know where to touch him, wildly switching between grasping his shoulders to weaving her fingers through his hair to dragging her palms down his spine, all the while aware of their pace roughening, as if afraid to lose the other in the midst of it.

She would never lose him again. Her mind spun a frantic wheel of the memories that lingered between the two as he pushed and pushed and _pushed_, breathing heavily into her ear, with Amelia tilting up into each thrust and gasping with satisfaction when each strike was successful. She bucked her hips upwards, adding to the depth, the warmth, the shivering pleasure that was consuming both of them quicker by the second. L's fingers dug into the flesh of her hips as he released a hiss through his teeth upon Amelia's carnal intuition to grip his hair tightly and moan wildly into his neck.

The climb was growing steeper and steeper, the top always just out of her sight when he would rear back, but intensify when she was filled again. L's breath was growing more and more shallow with each thrust of his hips, and although Amelia knew her whimpers and gasps were doing nothing positive for his need to control himself, her body was nearly splitting from this molten pleasure that she wished to increase higher, higher, high-

And the tide fell, crashed, soared over their heads at a shared timing. Her climax ripped through her body with such a strength that the corners of her vision went white, her cries drowning in his neck, his hair, legs wrapped as tightly as she could manage around his quaking body. Every fiber of her being was enlightened with the sheer energy of her orgasm that wracked every joint, muscle and nerve she was made up of.

And L…lean, raven L, was murmuring something delirious in her ear in between sharp breaths, his face tucked into her neck as well. His hands on her hips moved up to her stomach, her panting chest, finally up to her head as fingers swept through her hair as they melted under the final agonizing wave of euphoria that dominated all that they were. She was filled with a hot, silken rush from his core, and the tide died down into a muted bliss.

It took the both of them a few seconds to be able to move once the afterglow sank into their blood. Amelia's legs, entirely limp by now, released their hold of L's waist and sprawled along the bed carelessly, and her lungs filled with the air that had been sucked out of her in her delusion. L trembled feverishly atop her spent body as he tried to breathe in slow, steady inhales, but failed when the breath would catch exhaustedly. He struggled to support himself above her as he cupped her face, causing Amelia to drag her heavily-lidded eyes to meet his warm gaze.

And they just studied the other's sweat-sheened face, their rumpled hair, their kiss-hungry lips, silently begging the other to simply _stay._

And stay she would. Amelia tried to reach up to touch his face, but L leaned down and softly lay his lips upon her sweating forehead. As if under a sleeping spell, she felt her eyelids drop down over her eyes, each muscle relaxing beneath his warm body. "I…am quite unsure as to what to say now," he breathed out.

"As am I," Amelia whispered drunkenly, the corner of her mouth lifting in a tired smile. Her body felt loose, languid and so very warm that she doubted her mind could remain afloat for much longer, but she leaned up and brushed her lips gently against his. "I…"

A soft puff of a laugh floated past L's lips and, with a shudder, carefully pulled out of her and lay beside her. His palm lay on her chest, directly atop her heart. "Sleep, Amelia," he coaxed with a whisper.

She was already there, her mind drifting away into a quiet, warm slumber, with her lover's hand resting over her heart.

* * *

…**are you guys as happy as I am that they finally did it? XD**

**I really hope this lived up to everyone's expectations, it took a lot of brainpower, hours and lost sleep to finally get past their sexual tension. My lord. ::is still trying to catch breath::**

**Little fun fact, lol, I rewrote this love scene over four times, starting at before chapter three was even written. This is the only time I have been happy with the lemony cocktail result. ::blushes:: **


	29. Afterglow

**I am SO sorry this took so long to get out. I'm not sure why, but this chapter was very difficult for me to write…if this were an anime, this would be a filler episode with some sappy fluff. Which isn't all that bad. ::grin::**

**Well, uh, here, have another lemon! ::grins again::**

**Don't own Death Note.**

* * *

She dreamt of standing beneath rain; warm, soothing as it fell upon her, the smell of earth pulling her into the heart of a complete calm.

His arms were around her shoulders from behind her, his rain-glazed lips pressed against that sacred spot of her pulse. His heartbeat was against her back, but it breathed through her ribcage and slowed, beating in time with her own.

Neither needed to speak. It was all there in the rain, in this protective embrace that fueled her with the life that she drank in from him.

Words were not needed when all she wished for was _him_, as warm and soothing as rain.

* * *

_I've never seen you sleep this soundly before, Amelia…_

L had been watching her for at least an hour by now, since the morning had passed and the room was graced with the light glow of afternoon. He had ambled out of bed after she drifted off in search of his clothes, pulled them on lazily and, so very cautiously, sat back down next to her flushed, sleeping body.

And he just…watched her. It was all that he _could _do, because he had never seen something so enthralling as a woman asleep next to him.

She was still bare, only partially covered by the white sheet, but her pale shoulders were gracefully covered with her hair that fanned over her profile. She unknowingly faced him, curled up on her side, her hands resting on her stomach and hip, but her face…

Peaceful. Soft. _Fascinating._

Her most trusting state, all stretched out before him. L reached out, cocking his head to the side, and lightly traced the air above her face, down her neck, along her swelling chest and above the dip of her waist. Not touching, but studying her, taking careful calculation of each curve and slope that her body had to offer his eyes. His instinct told him to make sublime understanding of this woman, since there were so many aspects of this body that he still needed to grasp, but to stir her would interrupt his analysis.

So he imitated a touch; light, sensual, but all the while a secret to the sleeping girl.

_Beautiful…_

He took a deep breath and moved back up to her face, his fingertips hovering over her lips. Amelia shifted slightly in her sleep, but her face remained blissfully wrapped in a dream.

Her breasts were rising and falling with each slow breath she took. A sigh escaped her swollen lips, and L watched in absorption as she shivered, arched her back slightly, but slowly relaxed back into quiet slumber.

_What do you dream of, Amelia?_

Just as he reached out to brush her hair away from her eyes, Amelia moved again, her brow furrowed in light concentration as she curled her body closer to his. Her hand reached out for him.

And the second that L reached back out to catch her searching hand, her eyes opened.

* * *

Russe watched her twin brother with a sadness she was not supposed to have.

_You're good at being happy, Russe. That's why he takes care of the moody part for you. _

The apartment window was open, seating Arwen's lean form on the sill as he looked tiredly out at the city below. He had not spoken in hours. In fact, Russe could not recall him even looking at her since their older sister left.

_He'll be fine. _

Russe uncrossed her arms and distractedly pulled at the hem of her T-shirt, careful to make any noise to let Arwen know she was watching him. She had not done this in awhile: observed his mood swings, tried to make sense out of them because she could not feel them herself.

Usually.

_Shit. I'm gonna thump her in the head the next time I see her._

Arwen tugged at the collar of his shirt and released a sigh. "You've been watching me for an hour, Russe?" he asked softly.

"Twenty-three minutes," Russe replied airily. "Any reason why you're not talking?"

"Isn't talking now good enough?" he said just above a whisper.

That was something about Arwen that Russe could never get used to. His depression leaked through his voice in a soft hushness instead of a boom. Seeing him raise his voice at Amelia had been a new one for him; it was a rare occasion that the boy ever yelled, since he normally depended on his disturbing quietness to get his point across.

Their sister had brought out that raw anger in a way that Russe never could. In an awful way, she was almost jealous, and concerned it with a twist of her lips into a grimace.

"I don't get it," she muttered. She took a step closer to him, flicking her choppy hair out of her eyes with agitation. "The second she leaves, you get all dark on me again."

Arwen did not acknowledge her words and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, gazing outside with wide eyes.

"It takes us years to actually find her," Russe continued, "and then once we manage to do it, you're more depressed than before. You make no sense. Even less sense than her."

"She would make more sense if you actually listened to her, Russe."

"You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't ask one."

Arwen hopped up off the windowsill and began walking to the kitchen, and Russe followed him closely with narrowed eyes. "Well, aren't you just a world-class gentleman, Arwen!" she said, waving her arms around thematically.

"And you're the maiden of wisdom, Russe," Arwen mumbled as he collected two mugs from the book-littered shelf.

Russe scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Of course I am, but you're not telling me something important, you nit." She jumped up onto the counter and sat directly in Arwen's way, but he maneuvered away from her and began preparing tea. "So, out with it," she urged.

Arwen glanced at her in annoyance out of the corner of his eye, but clenched his jaw and was silent. This only fueled Russe to press him harder with her interrogation and she peered closer at him. "Or just lie to me so that I can stop wondering why you're depressed all the time, Arwen."

Another mannerism that she was not used to; speaking quietly, personally. Russe had always been a whirlwind of sound and energy, flitting to and fro and not caring who she disturbed, but this…this was unlike her to such an extent that she nearly wished to stomp around and throw teacups against the wall just to have some routine back in her system.

_Has she really changed you that much…? _

Arwen paused in stirring the tea that he had poured from the kettle, staring straight ahead. His delicate profile seemed tense now, the muscles in his jaw set and stiff, but he inhaled shakily and they visibly relaxed. "Russe," he began quietly, "if our father makes it to the top of Yotsuba..."

Russe leaned back, her eyes widening at his statement. _So that's what this is all about…_

"And if Kira learns of Amelia…" Arwen turned his mournful eyes to Russe and took another breath. "Her name hasn't been changed in the system, Russe. How do we know that he won't get her before we have time…?"

Russe allowed her face to soften, her shoulders going slack. She reached out and rumpled Arwen's curly hair, one corner of her mouth raising in a forced smile. "Oh, shut up," she teased softly, "she'll be fine. She's a smartass, you know that. She'd give Mr. Kira a run for his money and kick him in the ass on his way out."

At this, her twin gave her a weary smile and fixed his disheveled hair with his palm. "You really think so?"

"Wouldn't have said it otherwise."

Arwen's smile slowly drifted off his lips as he gazed back down at the mug on the counter. "And what if you're wrong, Russe?" he whispered.

The question wrapped its spindly, cold arms around Russe's waist and held on tightly like a lost child. She could push it away, tell it to find someone else to cling onto, but it would still remain unanswered either way.

With another lazy smile, Russe turned around and walked away. "Oh, spit on that," she droned. "I'm never wrong."

* * *

For a moment, the longest one in Amelia's life, all she could do was stare.

Given the fact that L was notoriously skilled in simply staring back, it was not in her best taste if she wanted to keep her blushing at a minimum, and she was doomed regardless once the recollection hit her.

She saw a minute smile tint L's lips when she pulled the sheet over her bare chest, releasing an awkward chuckle and clearing her throat. "Well, then," she said, "that was, um…quite…"

"Interesting?" L suggested with a tilting of his head. He sat beside her, knees against his chest as usual, but his hair was still heavily rumpled from the previous hour, and Amelia regarded it with a more severe reddening of her cheeks. She turned her head away from him in hopes of concealing it, but heard him huff out a small laugh. "As is your blushing, as always, Amelia," he said softly.

"I can't help it," Amelia mumbled from beneath the sheets, grinning to herself. "You'd be blushing if you woke up like this, too."

From beneath the thin veil of the sheet, she could see L pinning his thumb to his bottom lip and looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Yes, I suppose we should have taken care of that before you drifted off…but it is quite lovely, though."

Amelia let free a pent up anxious laugh that had been bubbling in her chest since she first saw him again. "Lovely," she repeated, humored. She nuzzled her cheek deeper into the pillow and closed her eyes, smiling. "Whatever term suits you, I guess."

"It suits you very well." L tugged at his bottom lip, his eyes now on her through the sheet. "You don't agree?"

Amelia thought upon the question beneath her cotton veil. _Do I agree…? This is the best I've felt in…god, at least twenty forevers…and he's pretty much seen everything by now...aw, to hell with it._

With a defiant bite on her bottom lip, Amelia slowly removed the sheet from her nude body and felt the warm glow return to her face when L's eyes widened, his mouth going slightly agape again. She took a deep breath and gave a sheepish smile. "I figured it wouldn't hurt," she mumbled as she reached up to her earlobe and gave it a satisfying pull.

L studied her body from her hair, down her chest, her tense stomach, tightly closed thighs, curled toes and back up to her eyes, his face flushing a youthful pink. There was a vague look of concern in his eyes as he leaned down to Amelia, whom held her breath in anticipation.

His eyes, dark and heavy over her, scanned over her face, calculating her lips, gliding over her glowing skin with intrigue. Amelia gazed up at him, unable to move under that _stare_, so completely enraptured that she could not attempt to break it with looking away.

_I've never felt this…safe…_

Their lips were on the verge of kissing, but still remained distanced even when L dipped his head lower to hers, eyes fixated on each reaction his not-quite-there contact brought her. Amelia, already growing desperate and intolerably warm, was forced to close her eyes when she realized that her self-control was dwindling down to nearly nothing this quickly without even a single kiss.

She heard him inhale deeply and exhale with a steadiness that Amelia had room to envy, for her breath was growing short, shallow as she awaited his touch.

"Tonight," L whispered, "I would like to see something. There's nothing I hate more than being interrupted, so it'll have to wait. What do you think of that, Amelia?"

Amelia felt her pulse race at the husky dip his voice took on when her name left his lips. "I-I think that would be suitable, y-yes," she managed to utter. _How do you stay so calm under these conditions…? Have you just learned to conceal it…? Dammit…_

Before she could prepare herself for it, he leaned down and stole her lips with something that was not a kiss, yet somehow magnified the quivering nerves and whittling fortitude that held her back from grabbing him and reenacting the breathtaking occasion that currently replayed in her head.

No, this was a quiet brushing, sensual in the most unexpected of ways as his lips slid atop hers like his body had. Amelia let her eyes slip closed and her mouth part, allowing him to lightly pull upon her bottom lip, sucking it into his warm grasp. She reacted with a jolt, her eyes snapping open, but the contact left her when he pulled back, another triumphant look on his face as he loomed above her blushing face. "Well, then," he said with a soft finality as he turned to stand up off the bed. Amelia watched him in awe as he strolled to the door, his hands in his pockets all too casually. "Well, then?" Amelia repeated breathlessly.

L looked back at her, seemingly surprised that he was heard judging by the innocent glint to his eye, the gaping of his mouth. "Yes?"

Amelia felt another laugh bubble in her throat as she pulled the sheet over her body again. "You…you said - oh, never mind. My mind's in a tiff now, thanks to you."

"You'll have to forgive me," L said with a dark smirk on his lips, reaching for the doorknob. "I am just doing my best to…" He looked up at the ceiling for an answer, and found it when he met her eyes again. "To learn you."

The indirectly erotic statement caused a burst of sublime keenness to erupt in Amelia's brain, the images of what exactly he meant by it forming themselves with her muddled imagination. She broke his gaze when another telltale blush rose in her face, and she heard him laugh softly. "I will see you once you are ready, yes?"

Amelia cleared her throat and nodded, the shy smile still clear on her lips. As L began to turn away, her curiosity got the best of her and she sat up, holding the sheet against her chest. "L?"

The detective looked over his shoulder at her again, cocking his head.

"Couldn't you just…you know…what you were saying about, um, tonight and all…"

_I want a hint, god dammit!_

L caught onto her request and opened the door with a teasing smile aimed at her. "Think of it as an extra case for you to solve," he said. "Agreeable?"

Amelia huffed in frustration, twisting her lips into a scowl. "You are incredibly exasperating, I'll have you know."

Even still, she could not hide the soft adoration in her eyes as she looked upon him. The gaze that was between them was the sure sign that no matter how hard she tried to assert her impatience with him, there was still a love that clouded over it, allowing the anger of having to wait for his explanation to die down and be replaced with something she was learning to embrace.

_Although I do love you, you bastard._

"The most charming side of you has reared its head again, Amelia," L stated, bowing his head and smiling.

Amelia's blush deepened and she chuckled beneath her breath. _Well, looks like you're back to normal, Amelia…I guess it's because of this, though…because of him…aw, shit, here comes the big fluff-fest. Now, just get your clothes and get into the shower before you get all loopy on me again…_

Another shared, sheepish smile, and L exited the bedroom, leaving Amelia to sit up with the sheet still wrapped around her. As she stood up off the mattress, she took three careful steps towards her heap of clothes on the floor before her foot suddenly hooked on the bottom of the sheet. With a series of muffled profanities from her lips, she went crashing down to the carpet in a confused, clumsy pile, landing directly atop her clothes.

A mordant look cast upwards, and Amelia sighed with a mixture of embarrassment and irony. "And the second most charming side of you is back, Amelia," she muttered before struggling back up to her feet.

* * *

The look that Aizawa gave L as he returned to the surveillance room was nothing less than scandalous, hungry for news that he would not provide him with, but L merely bit upon his thumbnail and sat down before the laptop. "Has either Light-kun or Misa-san spoken as of late?" he asked, ignoring his obvious wondering.

Aizawa groaned as he sat down on the couch by the armchair. "I'm surprised that's all you're worried about, Ryuzaki," he said. "I guess Lise is…tired?"

L shot Aizawa a look of brief surprise, but erased it and stared intently at the images of Light and Misa on the screen. "I assume that she is showering."

"Is that _so_?"

"Yes," L said dryly, "that is so."

"Does she have a _reason_ to shower two hours after coming back here, Ryuzaki?"

L let his eyelids sink down low over his eyes, unamused. "Please enlighten me on what you are implying, Aizawa, I'm growing rather bored."

"Well," Aizawa began, taking in a breath, "Lise came back two hours ago. You two were talking, things looked pretty serious so Matsuda and I went into the kitchen…and you're _just now_ coming back out?" Aizawa crossed his arms over his chest and grinned. "_Well_, Ryuzaki?"

L's stare was its customary blank as he challenged Aizawa's cheeky smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Aizawa-san," he said drolly. "Lise-san had merely returned to headquarters with some interesting information on the Kira case. I found it vital to our previous theories, and therefore wished for her to explain what she learned to me in private. I'm sorry if there was some…off-color misunderstanding."

"He's right, Aizawa."

The sound of Amelia's voice coming from the open door of the bedroom caused both L and Aizawa to turn around, catching sight of her walking into the surveillance room clad in her usual attire: grey, oversized sweater, black sweatpants torn at the knee. Her hair was draped over one shoulder, soft and woolen, and she roughly dragged a comb through the damp ends.

She was radiant. Her skin was fresh and glowing, her eyes reinstored with the energy that L knew burned within her, as a hint of a sly smile lifted her lips. "I find it odd that you immediately jumped to such a conclusion, though." She leaned against the side of the armchair and, with Aizawa unable to see, let her back rub up against L's shoulder, in which earned a involuntary shiver from his body. Biting his thumbnail roughly, L watched out of the corner of his eye as she moved to sit down on the floor and smirked. "I'm sorry to…disappoint?" Amelia asked.

Aizawa's eyes widened as he adjusted his tie. "Disappoint," Aizawa repeated, scoffing. "Didn't know you were so conceited, Lise."

Instead of a biting remark in response, Amelia surprised L with a snort of a laugh as she leaned her head back onto the armchair. Her hair brushed along L's wrist, soft, secretive, and as Aizawa stood up with a heaving sigh, L allowed his fingers to gently sweep along the top of her head; such a quiet movement that Aizawa did not notice as he walked away into the kitchen. "Well, time to get the year's supply of coffee in action," the man muttered as he left.

L had not realized that his fingers were still intwined in the girl's hair until she turned her head to look up at him, smiling shyly. "How was that?" she whispered.

"Quite impressive," L responded softly, stroking his fingers through her hair. Amelia closed her eyes and tilted her head closer to his hand, much to L's fascination, and she gave a lilting smile as he tucked away an auburn strand behind her ear. "You look enthralling like this, Amelia," he murmured.

"Such odd word choice," Amelia whispered.

"But so very accurate." L leaned closer to her face for a closer inspection. "Beautiful is also quite suiting."

A faint blush tinted Amelia's cheeks as she turned her head, her lips grazing L's wandering fingertips. "Beautiful…?"

_Yes…_

That overwhelming surge of energy was beginning to lace through their blood; L could feel it beneath Amelia's skin. He watched in awe, taking each reaction from her into permanent memory, as the girl's lips parted beneath his fingertips, her breathing beginning to pick up. "I-I think you're playing a…a very elaborate ruse with me on that one, L," she whispered with a nervous breath of a laugh.

"It's not like you to make such a mistake, Amelia," L said softly. His touch swept up along her jaw, stroking away a loose curl from her temple. "Aren't your analytical skills better than making that assumption?"

Amelia's smile widened and she opened her eyes, looking down at the floor. "Perhaps this extra case you've left me with is getting to me."

"Mm, yes, I figured as much."

"Perhaps a hint would ease the stress."

Amelia was looking at him now, her eyes youthful and curious as she tried to goad L into giving his plan away, but he gave her a cryptic smile and left a lingering touch on her chin as he retracted his hand. "I think I prefer testing your mind for the time being, if you don't mind."

Amelia's eyes snapped wider open to full attention, her mouth gaping open. "Y-you little…you won't…god dammit, L!" she hissed.

Even as she stood up to flit off to the kitchen, L took pleasure out of the brief, almost camouflaged sight of her scandalized smile glowing on her face.

* * *

_You need to tell him about them…_

Amelia bit harshly upon her pinky nail as she stirred her tea; chamomille sans sugar, biting and dark, just as she liked it.

_Russe and Arwen, particularly the latter…I need to test him more, though, to see if he's able to make it…but what will L think when I tell him about me having siblings…? And Watari…when I first mentioned seeing a girl with a similar accent to mine, before I even knew Russe's name…why had he become so uppity? And should I bother asking him about it now that I understand the situation…? _

Stir, stir, stir. A droplet of tea fell upon the counter, and Amelia's eyes followed.

_Perhaps I'm just in dire need of a hug…_

A little scoff, and Amelia picked up her tea to return to the surveillance room, back to her small spot on the floor before L's chair.

_Or whatever the hell he's planning in his mind for tonight…_

* * *

Just as her courage was freshly built to explain Russe and Arwen to L, he seemed to have a reason of his own to confront her.

"Lise-san," he addressed smoothly as they continued observing their suspects on the screen, "the night you came here with Watari to speak with Light-kun in his cell. What were your intentions?"

Truthfully, Amelia was grateful for the business tone in his voice; it was a cool rag atop her heated mind, in which was still clouded over by the previous night, so she welcomed the break from her thoughts and cleared her throat. "While I was on my temporary leave, I received word from Watari that a rapid change in behavior regarding Light Yagami had been recorded."

"Mm, yes."

"Yeah, he has been acting pretty weird lately." Matsuda handed Amelia an unrequested refill of coffee with a shy grin. "I-I, um, thought you might want some more, Lise," he stuttered before sitting back down on the couch by Aizawa, whom shook his head oddly and pinched the bridge of his nose. Amelia, confused by the show, accepted the coffee with a tilting of her head, prepared to question the younger officer, but her eyes caught with Aizawa's. "Don't bother," the man mouthed, waving her curiosity off.

_Um…alright, then…_

Amelia returned to her original speech and looked back at L. "Yes, well, I thought that the only way to get a full understanding of what was occurring was to see it in person. I took the initiative to also record the meeting on camera, which I still have."

L leaned in closer to her in interest. "What was your original plan in recording Light-kun?"

"I believed that if Light's behavior could change so drastically in such a short amount of time," Amelia continued quickly, "then it could be very likely that another switch could occur in him at any given time. Therefore, by having his current state of mind on camera, in the case of another change, we could compare both personalities and solidify any leads we could have." She gave a small shrug of her shoulders and took a sip of her coffee. "It was only a theory, but I was too disturbed by this new Light to just let it go."

While Aizawa and Matsuda buzzed to each other in agreement, L's eyes brightened on Amelia's, his telltale half smile budding on his lips. As another light blush tinted Amelia's cheeks at the sight, he lifted a single sugar cube to his lips and allowed it to slide into his mouth. "Very impressive thinking, Lise-san," he said quietly.

Amelia let her fingertips flutter up to her earlobe as she twisted it in an effort to calm her newly aroused nerves. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"But what about Misa?" Aizawa asked suddenly. "I mean, she seemed to become a completely different person at around the same time as Light. Don't you think there's something weird about that, too?"

"It's actually not that out of the ordinary when we connect it to Light's switch, Aizawa," Amelia explained. "Of course, it's definitely odd that they both are acting so cluelessly…but I'm paying more attention to the fact that both Light and Misa underwent the noted behavior switches once placed under solitary confinement."

Amelia allowed her glance to drift up to L, whom stared at her with his thumb pressed against his lips, smiling lightly behind it.

_Keep going._

She took a deep breath and stood up, facing the small task force with a heightening determination in her eyes. L gave her a nod, their wordless communication urging her to continue.

"Do recall the day that Light Yagami came to headquarters requesting to be placed in confinement, as well as the short period of time that stretched after Misa Amane's incarceration? When tying this back to our suspicions in regards to Light being the first Kira and Misa Amane being the second Kira, it connects far too well when we consider our theory that the Kiras had teamed up."

Amelia twisted at her earlobe so intensely that it turned a hearty scarlet, but the words flew off her tongue as quickly as they came to her.

"This is my new theory: in order to lessen the suspicions off both Misa and himself, Light Yagami crafted the plan to be placed in a jail cell away from all sources of news and criminals' names, since only someone desperate enough to prove their innocence would go to such lengths to do so. Two weeks passed in which no new criminals were killed, when suddenly the killings start up again virtually out of nowhere, even with our two suspected Kiras unable to gain access to such news."

"But how could criminals have died, then?" Aizawa asked.

Amelia wiped her palms off on her thighs and exhaled slowly through her nose. "As ridiculous as this may sound…I would like to think upon the idea that Kira's powers are able to be passed from person to person. It's the only way that I could explain such a occurrence."

"It's not ridiculous at all, Lise-san," L said softly from the chair. His voice gripped Amelia's attention and she looked to him, biting upon her bottom lip. "In fact," L continued, "your theory makes complete sense when we apply it to the second Kira."

"What do you mean, Ryuzaki?" Matsuda asked.

"Think about this for a moment…before we crafted the message for Light to send to the second Kira via Sakura TV, we had assumed that the two Kiras had not joined forces yet." L stared straight ahead, biting at his thumbnail in intense concentration. "This was made obvious by the singular fact that the second Kira's style of killing was far different from the original Kira's. If the first Kira had already known of the other's existence, it would make much more sense to have controlled their killing rate so as to not make it so obvious to the public that something was wrong. That, and the second Kira felt the need to broadcast their reality through Sakura TV in order to attract the first Kira's attention."

Amelia smiled softly to herself and bowed her head. _It all makes sense now…Kira's power isn't exclusive…but there must be some way of acquiring it without ever having contacted the first Kira in person…but how…?_

"I don't understand," Aizawa grumbled, rubbing his temples in frustration. "We've established the fact that the second Kira wanted to get the first Kira's attention, and did it through Sakura TV. But how does any of that tie into Kira's power being able to passed on from person to person?"

Amelia raised her head and looked at the officer straight in the eye, his confusion evident on his tired face. "You're missing the point," she began. "If Kira's power couldn't be passed on, then why would the second Kira, whom we had theorized had not met with the first Kira until a short time before Misa was confined, feel the need to make their powers known to him in the first place? How else could we explain the second Kira gaining the power to kill, as well as whoever holds that power currently?"

A thick silence fell over the room as Aizawa and Matsuda mulled this over, but Amelia turned her eyes to L, whom looked up at her with a glint to his dark eyes. The corner of his lips curled up slightly into a knowing smile and he sent her a small nod, in which Amelia returned with a flush of her cheeks and a nod back.

_Christ…that look…g-god dammit, cut it out, Lasswell! _

Aizawa broke the silence with a light chuckle. "Well, looks like Lise really is back, rambling and all."

Amelia's attention flit over to the man at his remark. While she was at first going to send an acidic retort to challenge him with in regards to her rambling, she felt her face soften when she saw that the officer was, for once, smiling at her. Even though she waved the man off with her hand, she smirked and shook her head. "Yes," she said quietly, "yes, I guess I am back, aren't I?"

* * *

_"You are frustrating the hell out of me, do you know that?"_

_"I don't see why, Amelia. I always thought you enjoyed a good mind game, don't you?"_

_"This is not a mind game. This is cruel and unusual punishment. This is me about to burst at the seams waiting for you to-"_

_"Mmm? Impatient, are we? That's very…gratifying, I believe is the right word."_

_"No, it's not. The correct word to use would be 'illicit'. Used in a sentence; L, you are being ridiculously illicit in forcing me to make sense of your…your little inquiry involving me."_

_"You're awfully wordy today, Amelia. And are you going to eat that chocolate?"_

_"I'm just very tense at the moment. And no, you can have it."_

_"Ah, excellent."_

_"…not even a single hint."_

_"Mm, precisely…is this Belgian chocolate? It has a slight bite to it…"_

_"I am going to strangle you."_

_"And never be able to know what I have in mind? What a shame…"_

_"…shit."_

* * *

Night fell with reluctance, hanging onto the last scrap of day with both of its dark hands.

Amelia, however, had never been so relieved to see the task force head out, for the clock to strike eleven and for L to _finally_, praise all that existed and thrived, to look at her without restraint.

She found herself almost shrinking back as she stood in the middle of the surveillance room once those eyes met hers, for the look in them was-

_Noxious…you look like poison right now…_

She would have been stupid if she expected to be able to fight against that ravonous pit deep within her core, with those eyes and that string of fire between them. They met in the middle in a spell of vertigo and breath as she pressed herself against him, lips colliding brilliantly, patience completely depleted. Her arms fell limply to her sides with that feeling of falling, falling, falling in her knees, and the sheer _heat_ of him was enough to mold her completely into his body and leave hers behind.

He kissed her with a fervor that betrayed his tired, lean appearance, stealing each breath she purchased with an equal greed. The shivering cupidity struck her at full force when his hands dipped from her neck to her chest, backing off once he grazed her breasts through her shirt, all in a succeeded attempt to heighten her need and crush her already fractured fortitude. She felt her hands rising to grip his shoulders, but they trembled and only caught hold of his shirt, crumpling the material in her fists just for something to hold onto. It seemed that each time they indulged in something as simple (or something that should be so simple) as a kiss, she grew less and less aware of her own self-control and more intensely attentive of _him_. The manner that his lips parted and gently pulled upon her bottom lip. The smooth, magnolia white slope of his neck that her hands seemed to always find. The softly aggressive way that he was now guiding her backwards until the back of her legs met with the arm of the couch.

"Lay down," he murmured, his lips still hot and pliable against hers, as his hands gently held her behind her shoulders. Intoxicated by the quiet demand, Amelia sank back onto the couch until she was stretched out luxuriously, but kept her eyes fixed on his smoking, inquisitive gaze. His eyes scanned over the length of her body, his bottom lip tucked hungrily beneath his teeth, but he took hold of her hips and gently pulled them upwards so that her bottom lay atop the arm of the couch.

Amelia felt her breath catch when his fingertips lightly trailed up her stomach, lifting her shirt and stroking over the tense skin in a warm sweep. She let her toes curl tightly when his touch rose to her chest, skimming over her breasts with a sort of curiosity that was draining her good sense. Just when she was fighting the urge to reach down to touch him, she felt a hot, langourous kiss rest atop her stomach, easing its way up to her sternum, her chest. She allowed a sharp inhale to rack her lungs before exhaling slowly, sighing, her eyelids falling shut.

_Don't rush it…no matter how impatient you've been all day…just…_

"G-god…L…" Amelia breathed out weakly when a warm, pale hand held her securely by the waist. She turned her head to the side to try to meet his lips when he rose to her neck, but his free hand cupped her face and stroked at her lips before nipping at her neck softly. "What was that, Amelia?" he murmured against her tender skin.

She took in a quivering breath and bit upon her bottom lip, feeling them beginning to tremble at their neglect. "I…" She shook her head blindly, brushing off her inward ramblings in spite of the enthralling feeling of his slender fingers stroking her waist protectively. "N-nothing," she whispered.

Amelia felt a hot exhalation against her neck when L released a small laugh. His hand cupping her face moved up to her hair as he entwined his fingers into the flood of auburn. "You're still so inhibited, Amelia," he noted quietly, ringing with a warm chime of endearment. "That's quite charming."

Even though her cheeks flushed heavily at his observation, she did not bother concealing it with a turn of her head as she let her arms wrap around his back. Entirely covered by him, hips raised on the arm of the couch, pressed so tightly against what she had been yearning for all day, yet it was still not _enough_. "You're…not exactly Mr. Out and About either, you know," she replied hoarsely with a hint of a smile. She squirmed and released a shuddering sigh when his lips grazed across hers before locking onto her bottom lip and giving it a gentle pull.

"I'm as aware of that as you are," L whispered. The touch on Amelia's waist roamed down to her raised hip, dragging out a shiver from her. "And I'm also aware…of the fact that you and I connect because of that. Because of our distance from the world, we can relate to the other…am I right in saying that, Amelia?"

His hand had found its solace in resting between her parted legs, the tips of his fingers pressing into the crevice of her sweatpants. Amelia's hips instinctively rose into the touch as she gripped him tighter. "O-of course," she whispered.

He was kissing her softly now, in between words, still with the experimental curiosity that was proven with the faltering of his touch, but Amelia closed her eyes and tried to control her heartbeat that increased with each one. "And if I'm not correct, neither of us would change that for anything…what are your thoughts on that, Amelia?"

A quiet whimper pushed through her lips when his fingertips pressed harder upon her, but she gave a quick nod and leaned up to accept another kiss from him. "I also think you're a…stubborn tease," she murmured before catching his lips again impatiently.

"Am I?" L asked airily. He pulled back to look at her, his eyes bright with amusement, hair mussed and tangled. "Well, then," he continued softly with a tilt of his head, "I suppose we should do something about that."

Amelia's eyes widened when he suddenly dipped down to her chest, inching down her abdomen with barely-there kisses, his hands holding her by the waist. As he went lower, lower, she could feel that warm, trembling uneasiness that came with both her need and uncertainty fizzling in her stomach. His hands were on the band of her sweatpants, glancing up at her and coaxing her to lift her bottom to get them past her hips. Her bare skin met with the cool air once they were gently pulled free from her ankles and disposed of on the floor. Amelia took in a shuddering breath when his lips pressed against the sensitive skin above the band of her underwear, felt her body seize up in anxiety. "L…?"

"Just relax for me," he murmured against her heaving stomach, descending lower. When his fingers gently latched around her underwear, Amelia shot her head up, wordlessly demanding an answer from him. It would hold much more gravity if she were to push away her own breathlessness, but the glow to L's eyes sealed off her lungs from oxygen, her mouth from forming words.

He was lowering her underwear now, and Amelia stared down at him with the same unease that came with their first conjoining. This time, however, she felt minute, so very small looking down at her lover that was suddenly between her legs. When his lips grazed against the now exposed skin, she felt her face flush a bright, steaming red. "L, what are you…"

The words left as soon as they had arrived. Her underwear now around her ankles, L timidly slid back up to between her legs, looking up at her with a new genre of wonder that sent a blazing surge of something she could not call familiar through her blood, for this was not familiar in any shape. She was bare to him, but at such a compromising angle, her so far away from him but her femininity so very _close_ to him.

She was petrified. But that sole smoldering gaze brought her back down to ground, only to be sent soaring back up to the ceiling at the first and most gratifying touch of his tongue against hot, timid need.

The sound that came out of her mouth was enough to humiliate her, but god, she could not fight it back. Her back arched in stunned glory before he served her another soft grazing, and her jaw dropped open, her eyes widening in shock at the almost unbearable pleasure that came when his lips shakily met with her soft flesh again. Her arms gave out beneath her and she lay flat on her back, gaping up at the ceiling and releasing gasps and pants that the strongest of humans could not control.

"O-oh my…g-god, _hah…_"

She heard him huff out a small laugh, felt it against her skin in a hot gust, before he wrapped his lips around her softly again. The feeling was white-hot, nearly paralyzing, the warmth of his mouth against her sending shockwaves of fierce pleasure through her awoken body. She was unsure of what to do with her hands, in which lay limp by her sides, but raised them weakly and let them drop by her head, the weight of them becoming too much to support.

And now he was spreading her tense legs slightly wider, his dark head tilted, and all Amelia could do was curl her toes and feel everything stiffen once more when he repeated that mind-boggling action that had her head reeling. She flung one hand up to cover her mouth as a hard moan squeezed itself out, but her other hand was wandering down to his head in time for the tip of his tongue to press into her opening, nudging it, teasing her. Her fingers gripped his hair, her body reacting intensely to the touch; it was as though everything from the waist-down was both numbed and fueled at the same time, tightening and relaxing with each sensual attack.

The sudden feeling of one long, slender finger gently pushing into her was too much to control, however, and she arched her back higher, a choked sort of gasp erupting from her chest. Instinctively, she guided her hips downward onto the touch as she felt it slide deeper. She breathed out something that she doubted existed in any worldly dialect when he carefully curled his finger inside her to press into that sacred spot that left her in an agonizing, helpless pleasure, rubbing softly against it before rearing back again.

All sorts of words failed her when another finger gently guided up into her. She wished to curse, to scream, to moan out his name, but all that came was another breathless arching of her back, another jolt of her hips onto the feeling. Slowly now, his fingers eased in and out of her in time to each ragged breath that clenched in Amelia's lungs.

And with another lap of his mouth against her, she was addicted and done for.

Her climax was so heavy that she was frozen in her arch, only able to go higher and higher as the tides of euphoria spasmed up and down her spine. A brutal moan that was suffocated with stunned murmurs of things she would never remember saying flung itself free from within her as L wrapped his lips around her for a final, intense burst that seemed to suspend itself above her head, flaunting how incredible she was able to feel with something so very _simple_, before it slowly shrunk down into a shivering, panting shock.

Catching her breath proved to be her biggest obstacle. She fought to contain it as L carefully rose her underwear back up her legs, fought to control it as she numbly lifted her hips again, fought to appear as though she were slightly decent when she repeated the action with him putting her sweatpants back on. She stared up at him in shock as he suspended himself above her, leering down at her as if he had won some grand prize.

"Delirious," he observed quietly. He pressed his thumb against his bottom lip to hide the smirk that bloomed behind it.

"Shut…shut up," Amelia panted out, closing her eyes tightly. _That look in your eyes isn't helping me cool down, you jerk._

"Does decadent suit your thoughts better?"

His voice dripped like honey, lathered in a sick sort of joy that Amelia knew came from her sublime reaction to his experiment. She exhaled through her nose and turned her face away from him, feeling a hot, molten embarrassment rise in her cheeks. "More like…overwhelmed."

"Mm, I see."

There was no hiding the amusement in his voice, the triumphant smirk curling the corner of his lips, and Amelia bit hard upon her bottom lip and tried to conceal her shivering. Even in the afterglow of the intensity, she was still breathless at the sight of that burning gaze, hot, steaming coal resting atop her chest, her face and lips, anywhere it could reach.

"You…you shouldn't be so smarmy right now, you know," Amelia remarked with a tired smirk of her own. "You're in quite a predicament yourself, aren't you?"

L tilted his head, let his eyes wander south before making a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat and looking at her again. "Don't concern yourself with it, Amelia," he said offhandedly.

Ignoring his comment, Amelia let her hand lazily trail down his stomach, barely-there touches lining the top of his jeans and skimming back up when they got low enough for satisfaction. She was still so _curious_ of this body stretched out above hers, felt the need to take it in slowly, feel out each and every square inch of its pale expanse before understanding even a fraction of it. "I thought you hated to lose," she whispered through a huff of a laugh.

"Of course I do." There was a pause as Amelia felt his gaze close in on her face again, compelling her to meet it.

_Don't…break…_

She could kick herself for thinking that she could control herself when he leaned in to her ear and whispered, "But I think you and I both have won here in a sense, am I right?"

And just like that, he was standing back up, tucking his hands in his pockets and serving her a glance over his shoulder, something connecting and dark in his eyes. Another shiver ripped through Amelia's bloodstream, her bottom lip sore from her biting upon it, as she watched him casually stride away, poor posture and all.

She let herself flop back down on the couch, the back of her hand shielding her eyes, before the realization implanted itself in her brain.

_I'm in control next time, L. _

* * *

**Eh? Eh? Lemony enough for you? I could only hope so. And what Amelia thought is a promise. ::smirk::**

**Anyway, I promise the next chapter will be easier to write, seeing as there will be some actual plot in it instead of wanton sex all over the place. Well, this **_**is **_**a love story. Lol.**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	30. Confession

**My apologies for this being so late. Life has been one notch above hard as of late. **

**Anyway. Yes. Third lemon in a row for you lovelies! Which may just be my favourite one to date. :D**

**I don't own Death Note.**

**

* * *

**

A realization stung Amelia at two in the morning, when all she and L could focus on was the taste of coffee, stale air conditioner and two sleeping suspects on the laptop screen. It hit her with such a sudden bite that the muscles of her shoulders tensed, her fingers tightened around her mug, her lips pursed and brow furrowed.

It took L a mere three seconds to notice. "You're disturbed," he observed, mouth full of raspberry danish but eyes fixated on her stiffened form. "Are you growing fatigued?"

Amelia let her eyes meet his slowly, but drift away again when the concern in the heavy grey irises sent a chilled pang of guilt through her chest. "Nothing," she mumbled. "It's unimportant."

"On the contrary, it's very important," L objected quietly. He took another bite of his danish and looked at her out the corner of his eye. "Anything that causes irritation in you can hinder your deductive skills, thus making it more difficult to process information at your normal rate." A pause, and L looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully before swallowing his mouthful of food. "That, and I rather care for you. Both reasons will suffice."

Amelia smiled weakly at him before looking down at the dark well of her coffee mug, the creamer swirling idly on the surface. "It's rubbish, really. It was just a thought I had on a whim." She gave a small shrug and cleared her throat. "In fact, I feel silly for even noticing it."

L was silent for a moment, picking at his food mindlessly with his fork, but spoke softly enough to stir Amelia's attention. "You are far from silly, Amelia. Do take my word on that."

Amelia felt her face soften at his words as she set her mug down on the coffee table. "I'm such a nit sometimes."

"A silly nit?"

Amelia looked up at L, smirking, and continued. "I…oh, how do I say this…I have my strange ideals when it comes to human contact," she said slowly.

L's eyes widened slightly, a flit of a smirk dashing his lips. "Is this about what I…?"

"Oh!" Amelia shook her head rapidly, embarrassed. "Oh, no, that was…god, that was, uh…rather _uplifting_, to say the least, b-but that's not what I'm talking about at all."

She heard him huff out a laugh through his nose, taking a cheeky bite of danish and giving her a little nod of triumph. "That's encouraging," he noted in the midst of chewing.

"But sometimes I hold a sort of…um, _interest_, in the more minute moments that most normal adults in a s-sexual relationship partake in, which means that…"

When she ran out of words to describe herself, she took notice of the fact that L was leaning in closer to her face, tilting his head and studying her with that frustratingly endearing form of innocence that she knew was both twisted and genuine, which eventually pushed the trapped words free from their confinement.

"We're not quite the normal relationship, are we?" she asked softly. "Which means that some of the smaller moments can't really be ours."

"While I agree on the terms of not being exactly 'normal'," L said, "what are these moments that you're speaking of?"

It was then that the fresh, newly tapped embarrassment rose in Amelia's cheeks as she looked down at her crossed legs, at the hole in her sweatpants just to distract herself. "I…I won't be able to hold your hand," she whispered. "Not in front of the others, at least. And with the case at the point that it's at right now…it's not likely that we'll be seeing much of the world outside this hotel where we wouldn't have to be so highly guarded." She cleared her throat again and rubbed her palms nervously on her thighs. "And this isn't at all to say that I would wish for our lives to be completely average. I don't want to put on a pantsuit and go off to work as a secretary at some firm or any of that. That's not it at all. I…I can't ever think of a time where I've felt like I belonged the most than on this very case, but…"

L's gaze was soft upon her, neither draining nor supplying any other emotion besides her own embarrassment and childish desire. Another quiet nod from him and she was coaxed into speaking again.

"But…I can't help but wonder what it would be like to be yours and not have to hide from it," Amelia murmured, fingers fluttering up to her earlobe to give it a relieving tug. "Forgive me for sounding so juvenile, but it always seemed like such a lovely thing…h-holding someone's hand and whatnot…"

She did not give herself time to wander in her thoughts and stood up on unsteady legs, running her fingers through her feral hair as she walked towards the kitchen archway. "Well, um, now that that's on the table, I think it's time for some of that tea I've been meaning to make, the coffee is rubbish right now and-"

All thoughts of tea and coffee and kitchens delightfully melted away when L reached for her, softly taking her hand and guiding her into his timid embrace. Amelia gladly relaxed into the lean surface of his chest, breathing in the scent of cotton and raspberry danish, feeling his free arm wrap around her shoulders and pull her closer. "I'm not quite one for hugs, but I believe you can be my exception," he said into the wild pile of her hair, gently kissing her temple when she turned her head.

"I like being an exception," Amelia mumbled, smiling against his neck.

"Mm, I believe I like it as well."

And the only thing she had left to focus on was the warmth of his lips against hers, dragging her deeper and deeper into her own personal oblivion.

-

The days passed without avail. The coffee was made, the glances were stolen, the touches soft and in the secret of night, but the case was in a dry spell as they knew it.

"The most silent suspects I've ever come across," L muttered from his armchair, fiddling with his bottom lip. "Knowing you are innocent is one thing, but having such strong evidence against you and still managing to avoid any means of a confession in weeks is…"

With a bitter sigh, L dropped his spoon into his empty ice cream dish and frowned. "Positively absurd," he finished. "What are your thoughts, Lise-sa-"

A glance down at the girl, and L was stopped short. Amelia was fast asleep on her stomach, sprawled out on the floor with her hair completely concealing her turned face. Papers were strewn around her, resting beneath her limp hands, and her tea sat by her head, unfinished. Her breathing was slow, steady, and each exhalation brought about a gust of breath to ease through a lock of hair, blowing it lightly out of her face.

L took a quick survey around him and saw that the other two officers had toddled off for coffee, leading him to take the initiative to hop off his armchair and crouch before Amelia's sprawled form. He gave a tilt of his head as he thought upon how to rouse her without earning a swift punch to the jaw (he was so very aware, at that time more than ever, of just how much fire she could breathe when forced awake).

"You sleep so much, Amelia," he whispered, toying with his bottom lip gently. "And yet you're always so tired…"

His eyes were fixed on that lock of hair that clung to her lips when she inhaled, being blown back out when she exhaled.

"However…"

He reached out to her. Fingertips grazed auburn hair, stroking the soft strands without any thought behind it. Amelia did not stir; a heavy sleeper, L remembered, and he gently twirled his finger around the lock of hair. "I do wonder what you dream about."

Biting upon his bottom lip lightly, L stood up and made his way back to his chair. He would let her sleep, he decided with a faint smile. She needed it much more than he did.

-

Amelia awoke to hushed arguing and her hair in her mouth.

Taking a moment to tug the moist strands from her lips with a grimace, she dizzily sat up and caught sight of Aizawa standing behind L's chair, his back to her, with L standing before him. The latter caught Amelia's eye briefly, and it was just long enough for her to spot the faint irritation that dulled over the surface of his gaze. She stayed put and listened from afar as Aizawa began speaking, his voice hard and pressing.

"If criminals are steady being killed while Light _and_ Misa are confined, then isn't that more than enough reason for us to let them free?"

"While I admit that it is odd that criminals are still being killed," L spoke stiffly, "the evidence against Light-kun and Misa-san is too strong to release them at this time-"

"But the fact is, Light and Misa serve no purpose being confined anymore," Aizawa stressed, emphasizing every word as if L could not understand him. Amelia bit her bottom lip to avoid bursting out with something rash as he continued. "They're both completely different people from when we first confined them, you said it yourself! If neither are giving us any information _and_ don't seem to remember what happened before we confined them, then, tell me, what's the _point_ in keeping them there?"

"I'm not going to explain this anymore to you, Aizawa-san," L said stiffly. Amelia could see the exhaustion on his face, the limp strands of hair that hung heavily over his gaze. She briefly wondered just how long he had been awake these past couple of days before he spoke in a quick, hushed voice. "The deal between Light-kun and I was that I would refuse to release him until I was one hundred percent sure that he was _not Kira_. Not once did he say, 'Don't release me until Aizawa-san believes me to be innocent', or, 'It's up to Aizawa-san to decide whether or not I am Kira and let me free, as well as Misa-san'. The point, Aizawa-san, is that I am _not_ one hundred percent sure of Light-kun or Misa-san's innocence, and therefore _will_ not release them until I am so. And please, save the effort of asking me this again until there is a new lead in the case. It is just a waste of time otherwise."

L wheeled around Aizawa so that he could go back to his chair, in turn causing the latter to take notice of Amelia, whom sat on the floor cross-legged like an eager child having just seen a scandal. He cleared his throat as L grumpily took his seat. "Huh, so you're finally awake," the officer stated casually.

It was an obvious attempt at changing the subject, Amelia was sure of that. Instead of looking at Aizawa or L, she pinned her gaze to the floor, the puzzle in her head racing madly. "What do you suppose would happen if we released Light and Misa?" she asked quietly.

Even without looking at him, Amelia knew that Aizawa was surprised judging by the stretch of awkward silence that permeated around them. She could feel the weight of L's stare upon her as she toyed with her earlobe, mind spinning.

"I-I don't know at this exact moment, but-"

"If we released them, say, tomorrow, or the day after…with what appears to be a memory loss in both Light and Misa, but surely enough backup to say that they were indeed both Kiras…could it be possible that they could somehow lead us to whoever is causing the new deaths in criminals? To perhaps regain some sort of memory and provide some information as to how Kira kills?"

"But, Lise-san," L added, voice low and dull, "if Misa-san could not even vaguely remember why she was being confined in the first place, how could she provide us with information in regards to Kira's killing methods?"

Amelia twirled her finger around a loose thread on her sweater and glanced at him briefly. She knew she was onto _something_, let it be the most minor of ideas or a fraction of a lead, but even through the haze of her mind she knew that it was something that could be built upon. If she could just get the words to string together in the right order…

Aizawa took a quick step forward. "Are you saying…that you think by releasing Light and Misa, they might somehow lead us not only to how Kira kills, but who has the power of Kira as of now?"

No, that was not quite right. Amelia bit her bottom lip and tried to collect her thoughts, dust them off and arrange them in some sort of fashion, but she shook her head and sighed, frustration mounting. "This isn't coming together right," she muttered. "I thought I had something to work with, but…" She shook her head again, pushing her hair out of her face. "No. Just forget I even said it."

-

L took his usual solace in standing by the window once more before he felt Amelia brush against his shoulder, heard her hoarse voice crackle through the silence.

"I'm sorry."

The fact that she had appeared out of nowhere was not what surprised him at all; no, it was the sheer fact that she had appeared out of nowhere with an _apology_ to offer, and for what, he did not know. He looked at her out the corner of his eye. "I don't recall you having done anything calling for an apology, Amelia," he replied offhandedly.

The girl sighed and hopped up to sit upon the windowsill, her head turning to look out at the city spanning behind the glass. "My theory earlier. I don't know what I was trying to prove, it just…" She shrugged her frail shoulders and leaned her forehead against the window. "Maybe I'm just trying too hard to come up with a lead. I'm trying to pull one out of thin air to get something moving in the case, and I keep thinking it's supposed to be so effortless, but that's…so very unrealistic of me..."

L was gravitating toward her, he could pinpoint it without any qualms or questions; his upper body was instinctively leaning into her, his hand moving to rest on her knee, and yet he made no effort to stop himself and back away. In fact, he could see after a brief observation that she was sitting up straighter, her hand searching for his and finally making contact with her fingertips brushing up against his palm. Warm electricity, connection in such a quiet touch.

"I think it's because…"

Amelia's voice trailed off as she turned to look at him. "I have something I need to tell you."

L stroked her fingers softly, drawing forth a shiver from her as she gently pulled her hand away. When he visibly pouted, Amelia shook her head with a nervous little smile playing with the corner of her mouth. "You'll distract me with that," she whispered, face flushing as she looked around to see if anyone was within earshot. "I've been trying to keep my mind _off_ our little intimacies in order to word this right in my head, so try to control yourself, ok?"

"Ahhh, but Amelia," L crooned softly, fingertips grazing her knee and fluttering upwards. "Is it me that has to control myself? Since you are the one who cannot speak and be touched at the same time, is it not _you_ who needs to fight for control?"

Indeed, her eyelashes were fanning over her eyes, she was letting her leg drop down from the windowsill, and just as L's hand barely grazed her inner thigh, she took in a sharp breath and gripped his hand, pushing it away. "No," she whispered, "you need to know this."

Frowning, L tilted his head and scrutinized her flushed face, attention gripped. "Then do tell," he murmured.

Amelia's eyes took on a strange gleam as she twisted her earlobe tightly between her fingers. When her gaze dropped down to the floor, lips forming words but not executing them, L curiously reached out to touch a single fingertip against her chin. When he tipped her head up gently so that her troubled stare met his blank one, the tension broke with a resounding snap before she suddenly reached out and gripped his hand.

"I told you not to distract me," she growled, hopping off the windowsill and turning away. "Meet me in the shower in ten."

And as she sauntered off, fists clenched and feet stomping, L could not help but bow his head and smirk.

-

Heat. All around her. Pressed up so hard against her that she could feel herself molding into the shower wall.

It was always the first push of his hips that claimed Amelia's judgment the hardest, the most effortlessly, and with that first smooth thrust, her fibers and cells and bloodstream and _mind_ were stolen. What made it worse, and she knew this without even having given it any wasted thought, was that L _knew_ it, and that he had inwardly vowed to make each of their endeavors more maddening than the last.

He was hiking her legs up higher around his waist, slick from the hot water that pulsed from the showerhead above them, and her frantic counterattack consisted of digging her heels into his back and bearing down upon the hot intrusion between her legs. His new infuriating technique was taking as long as possible to pull out, leaving her shivering and cursing beneath her breath, then thrusting fiercely and unbridled back into her fully, smirking darkly at the restrained cry that choked behind her lips.

She wanted control, but with each one of those burning, impossibly searing plunges into her, she would lose any chance for opportunity just as quickly as it had arrived.

"I do believe," L growled against the nape of her neck, beginning the long and leisurely journey of pulling out of her, "that you had something you wished to tell me, Amelia."

Amelia stifled an agonized moan as she tried to press back onto him, to feel him sink back into her instead of _leaving_ her (_god dammit!)._ "I-if you think that I'm going to - _ah_, god - tell you at a time like this, you're fucking-"

"Insane?" he crooned into her ear. He was now halfway buried within her, completely ceasing all movement as Amelia squirmed and sweat against the wall, her legs attemping in vain to pull him back to her. He lay a wet, open-mouthed kiss against her shoulder and breathed out a chuckle, causing a thick pang of fury to rise in Amelia's chest.

"N-no…cruel," she hissed as his length left her completely. But if she was empty now, then that meant -

_Yes_. Hot, merciless, striking that desperate and cracking bell within her core as he suddenly lurched his hips upwards and drove back into her. Her cue was to immediately drop her hips down onto his and feel that wonderful crashing oblivion that came with that warm, wet contact of hips and frustration and thirst, but she was stopped in mid-slide when L suddenly pinned her harder against the wall and gripped her by the jaw. Her attention which was at once enraptured at the feeling of being so entirely _full_ of him, his body heat, her own shivering limbs, was suddenly dragged to the hunger in his eyes as he scanned over her face before he kissed her.

So softly that it nearly made her weep, the pressure of the kiss was just enough to send shockwaves along her lips, a confused moan muffled behind them. His thumb reached up and coaxed her lips to open wider, to which Amelia druggedly allowed, as he gently, slowly, indulged in her mouth with that light skimming sensation of his lips.

And he was easing out again, this time much quicker, before driving back into her sleek heat without abandon, all the while kissing her so _softly._ Amelia's heels pressed harder, harder into his back and supported herself against the shower wall in spite of the heavy rocking below her hips, but nothing could suppress the groans, the whimpers, the nounless demands for _more, god dammit._

But she could not be heard…no, that was the last thing that could happen. Through the haze of her sex-stupor, in the very midst of L pushing wet tendrils of hair out of her eyes, she imagined Matsuda, Aizawa, hell, even Watari standing outside the bathroom door, scandalized and stunned into silence and prepared to scold her for fucking on the job, but…

_God._

With a sharp exhalation, he leaned back and looked at her.

_Don't do that…I might just-_

His eyes, dark and feverish, were now narrowing, his attention piqued onto her and only _her_, and Amelia shakily reached out to touch the dripping locks of hair that clung to his forehead with a timidity she would soon kick herself for. It was a quiet moment, one that she relished even in the midst of trembling in his arms and pleading with her eyes and fingertips.

Just before she nearly collapsed into herself, the feeling of being filled and yet so immobile becoming unbearable, L tilted his head softly and, with a touch that was barely there, grazed her lips with the pad of his thumb. Amelia instinctively pouted against it, eyelids sinking, her hips pressing harder downward onto his length, harder, _closer…_

"You…fascinate me…"

At his voice, that hoarse, gruff whisper, Amelia felt a hot burst of raw, untapped arousal, one that buried itself deep within her very being, one that had the potential to tear its claws down her abdomen and steal her heart entirely. In between staggered breaths, she dug her nails into the soft skin of his shoulders and buried her face into his neck. "Then…j-just-"

_Move._

And he did He moved, a sudden, swift thrust, with such a force that Amelia's shoulders slammed up against the shower wall, their bodies crushing together as a strangled gasp erupted from her throat. Leaving no time for retrieval, she immediately felt the loss of him, the reviving push back in, sweet repetition as she desperately dropped her weight lower onto his length with each upward drive. When she could sense the harsh moans and grunts beginning to escape her lips, she immediately bit down upon his shoulder in an attempt to stop them, but she succeeded in only muffling them once L gripped her hair and coaxed her to look at him. His nails stung her scalp, but the sheer heat of his eyes forced a sharp spasm of pleasure through her stomach, shooting down to where they connected.

He drove on, propeling deeper and deeper, and as Amelia felt herself sink into the beginning of a divine breakage, her lips formed three words, slipping from her without her realizing it.

"_I…love you…"_

She could barely comprehend what happened next. They were cracking simultaneously. _Iloveyou. _His eyes were rolling back, eyelids fluttering shut, and as his mouth went agape and a shuddering series of gasps flooded Amelia's ears, she felt herself bear down as everything tightened unbearably around him. _Iloveyou. _Her hands flew out to his shoulders and she held onto him, his movements erratic and rough as the wave in her chest rose higher, as it became harder to control herself against him. _Iloveyou Iloveyou Iloveyou. _

It was no use.

Controlling herself against him. How stupid of her to think that she would ever want to do that at a time like _this._

A silent scream was all she could manage without snapping completely; the pleasure was too much, L was _too much_, and yet she gripped him, rocked against him, _harder harder harder_, until everything boiled down to an exhausted friction between their hips and they remained trembling and panting in each other's arms.

Seconds passed, in which the only sounds to be heard were the water jetting from the showerhead and their heavy breathing. Heartbeats slowed as Amelia watched L slowly open his eyes.

And as their eyes met, Amelia began to laugh, soft and baffled.

While L cocked his head and scrutinized her, still catching his breath, she could only laugh harder as she began to sink down the shower wall with him until she sat on the slick floor. She bit down on her fist to stifle her chuckles once L crouched before her like a bird. "While I'm sure the final moments of copulation aren't exactly _graceful_," he mused quietly, "I never thought that you would find them _hilarious._"

Amelia sucked in a large breath, wiping tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes. She waved his words off with one hand, flighty giggles seeping through her speech. "It's…it's not that that 's so funny, it's…" She took a couple moments to compose herself, but only managed to begin giggling harder, snorting as she inhaled. Meanwhile, L stared at her, round-eyed and open-mouthed.

"Then…?"

Amelia inhaled through her nose and pushed away wet strands of hair from her forehead, laughter dying down into an exhausted, lop-sided grin. "It's…what's so funny is…the fact that no matter what we do…no matter where we are or what we're talking about…we always seem to end up doing _this_!"

Once the explanation was out there, it was suddenly too hysterical to handle, leading to an uproarious thread of breathy giggles to slip through her lips as L took a moment to think it over. Amelia tilted her head up to the ceiling, tears streaming down her face at the sheer hilarity that came with this situation, the fact that they were both naked in the shower, the fact that their blood had barely stopped boiling after an explosive climax, the fact that they were even lovers in the first place. Amelia and L, two misfits that were too smart for their own good, orphans with tired eyes and aliases, and they had both just had a jolly good gambol in the _shower_, no less. It was all just so…

Unbelievable.

And twisted.

_And wonderful._

"Bloody hilarious," she sighed out, smiling weakly as she closed her eyes.

She heard L's knees crack as he stood up, the sound of the shower curtain opening, a soft chuckle that she most likely was not supposed to hear. He turned off the shower, cutting off the water that streamed down on Amelia. "I suppose we'll exit the bathroom within ten minutes of the other, just to keep suspicions low," he explained. "I don't suppose you want to put up with ogling and accusations from the others any more than I do."

"I don't know, it's starting to become sort of routine to me." Amelia stretched out her legs, wincing at the slight pain at their previous awkward position. "Although, rather off topic, but Matsuda…he's been rather dotty lately…"

"I would think that _that_ is what would be more routine to you," L said dryly.

Amelia opened her eyes then, glancing over at L, whom was already back in his clothing, hair dripping and heavy over his eyes. She shrugged her shoulders and cleared her throat, flustered at the sight. "He deserves more credit than what he gets, you know," she declared, voice soft.

At this, L furrowed his brow in interest. "Credit?"

"Yes," Amelia said with a little nod. "What I'm saying is-"

She suddenly stopped and looked down at herself. Nude in a bathtub, looking up at the man that she had just…

Snorting, she closed the shower curtain with nervous fingers. "This conversation would hold much more caliber if I was decent, I just realized."

L gave a dark laugh. "You worry about being indecent even in the aftermath of-"

"_Yes_, even after we just…_anyway._ Now hand me a towel, you dog in heat."

"Might I remind you that this was your idea," L said airily. "You coaxed me into the shower after not being able to control yourself-"

Amelia hissed out a laugh, feeling her cheeks redden. "You talk of me not being able to control myself when it was _you_ who couldn't stop pawing at me while I was trying to talk."

And it hit her again. _I need to tell him._

"L, I…"

"As you were saying before this sidestep of sorts." L opened the shower curtain, towel in hand. Amelia shakily reached out to accept it before standing up and turning away from him. Her lips formed words, but her voice failed to follow through with them.

L suddenly spoke, throwing her off guard.

"Lise Murray, are you Kira?"

Amelia spun around, her feet nearly slipping out from under her from the wet shower floor. "What the _hell_…?!"

"You weren't talking," L said, completely flatline, "so I had to do something to break the silence. That just happened to come to mind first."

Amelia let her eyelids drop halfway over her eyes, unamused as she began toweling off. "I'm just a little apprehensive. No need to bring Kira into it."

"Does Kira have to do with it?"

_I can't lie._

"He's an aspect of it, yes, but…"

Before she said anything else, she reached down for the knob in the tub and turned it so that the sound of the water would drown out any chance of being overheard. She looked L in the eye, if only for a brief second before turning away again and resuming drying off. Best to keep herself busy instead of meeting that gaze…

"Their names are Russe and Arwen."

There. She said it. It was done.

_No, it's not done and you know it, you nit…_

When L was silent for an unnerving amount of time, Amelia began dressing, distracting herself and from the sudden tension behind her. "I came across the former while on an outing during my leave," she continued softly. "We had a falling out of sorts, leading for her to ultimately tell me that we are indeed sisters, which was proven by the fact that she knew both my true name and background. And Arwen…"

His sad eyes. The melancholy lilt to his young smile. His natural talent at the piano, his longing to meet L. It still had not quite left her.

"Arwen is her twin brother," she went on, pulling her sweater over her head. "I believe that he has…an incredible potential, one that he doesn't see in himself at all. He can play music without ever having any form of lessons, his view of the world is much more mature than the average seventeen-year-old, and…"

Her voice trailed off at the sensation of her throat tightening. She looked down at the hem of her sweater and began twisting it within her fingers. Just as she was about to add something, L spoke up.

"Where does Kira tie into this, Amelia?"

Stunned, Amelia snapped her attention onto him, her eyes darting over her shoulder. "Y-you…that's…you're not surprised? At _all_?" she breathed out.

L stroked his bottom lip, turning his eyes to the ceiling in thought. "Well, to be honest…"

Amelia stared on, her jaw dropping further at each passing second.

"I already knew of your siblings, Amelia," L finished simply.

_…w-what?!_

"While I didn't know the minor details regarding each of them, I have known for around three weeks that you had come in contact with a young woman who shared a similar dialect to yours and left a rather strange impression upon you."

As L continued toying with his lip, his eyes now fixed on her dumbfounded expression, Amelia tried to swallow the heartbeat in her ears and take a step forward, but she was pinned to the wall, her back crushed against the wallpaper as if held there by force. "What…but…_how-"_

_Watari._

_Watari told me to stay away from Russe._

_Which means he _had_ to have told L…!_

"The resolution in your eyes tells me you figured it out," L said tonelessly.

"M-more or less…"

"But one thing that Watari didn't tell me was how Kira ties into this." L cocked his head to the side, rolling his bottom lip between his fingers and distorting his words. "In fact, he didn't even _mention_ that Kira might have something to do with your siblings."

"_They _aren't Kira, if that's what you're thinking. They aren't his…_disciples_, or any of that."

"No, I've already deduced that much."

"Smug bastard."

"Of course."

Amelia let out a sigh and leaned over to turn off the tub water. "This isn't working. We're going to the balcony."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Amelia said with a nod, grabbing her dirty clothes and holding them against her chest. "Where no one can hear us. Make up some excuse for Aizawa and Matsuda. You're good at that."

"Are you insinuating that I am a good liar, Amelia?"

The smirk in his voice caused her to stop in her tracks before opening the bathroom door. She bowed her head and smiled to herself before meeting his eye over her shoulder. "Yes," she whispered, "and that I am getting just a tad better at reading you day by day."

* * *

**Yotsuba is approaching dangerously fast...it's going to be one hell of a dramatic ride. Plus, Russe and Arwen make a return very soon!**

**By the way, guys, I've revised a couple of the earlier chapters. 1-5, I believe, and I'm much happier with them than before. **

**Reviews are wonderful, dears!**


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